Remember...

Today is the birthday of one of my oldest friends...not that he's that old, but that we have been friends longer than anyone else I have known.  Happy birthday Mars!

We have known each other since before we knew each other.  Marlon Tomera and I literally grew up together on the same street, just three houses apart from 18 months old to 18 years old.  I spent the best days of my first 18 years with him as a best friend.  Since then, we have moved on to other places and really lost touch.

Back in those early days I couldn't fathom ever losing touch with Marlon.  We did almost everything together, including coming to know God and beginning to take him seriously.  There were other things we got ourselves into as young boys, but thankfully those are not held against us! 

Now some - dare I say it - 30 years(!!!) later we are still half way across the country from each other and have bumped profiles on Facebook.  Those great younger days of bike riding, goofing off and duck hunting are some of my best memories.  K-Falls in the '70's was a terrific place to be a kid.

Now as I think about looking back, I am reminded that God's most frequent plea with us all is "Remember."  To ancient Israel he says remember how I brought you up out of Egypt...remember how I promised to make you a great nation and that by you all the nations of the world will be blessed...Jesus picks up this refrain in the New Testament when he says that whenever you gather together, do so in remembrance of me. and I will be with you always, to the end. 

I remember the day that Marlon announced he was ready to give his life to God.  We were 15 or 16, I think, and he simply said, "I want to give control of my life to Him."  We went to the small Arthur Street Church because the baptistery at our church was leaking and couldn't be used.  They gave him a white baptismal suit which was a little too thin and a bit revealing when wet.  I remember thinking that was kinda funny and more than a little awkward, but the whole thing was far too important and amazing to laugh about.  That was the day that Mars came to Christ before my eyes.  Years later, on frequent occasions when I would think of him and wonder where he was or how he was doing, I would pray for him and hope that his commitment stuck.

Way back then he had a thing for a girl named Terry, the little sister of one of my other close friends.  They got married and they are still together. God is good!  Now I hear of his family and can see shades of his faith sprinkled through his profile on FB and am thankful for that day so long ago.  It reminds me to remember that God is faithful.  He has never left me.  He continues to work in my life and the lives of friends like Mars even when we take our own paths apart for years!

Again, Happy birthday Mars!!!  I hope this is a day you will long remember.