“Now that´s a friend”

One of the most beautiful examples of friendship occurred during the Olympic Games of Seoul, and involved a runner named MOULAY BRAHIM BOUTAIB, winner of the 10,000 metres race.

As he was approaching the end of the race in first place, there was a high possibility of breaking the world record. However, he almost stopped running for a moment to look behind him, where SALVATORE ANTIBO was fighting to stay in second place. When they both arrived at the finish line, Boutaib and Antibo hugged each other in the presence of millions of people. They were great friends and had trained together. Boutaib considered it much more important to see his friend arrive second, than to set a new record.

Many times we have spoken of friendship, for not many things in life are as important as good friends. It was God himself who created friendship and, in spite of the fact that he was perfect and didn't need anything, he created man so he could offer him his time and his help. The history of humanity is nothing more than the story of God presenting his love to every person in the universe, even though we have rejected him thousands of times.

No book has given a better definition of friendship than the Bible. Let me propose a little adventure. Look up all the texts you can find in the book of Proverbs on the subject of friendship and write them down, along with the lessons we can learn from them. I'll give you a hand to get started.

• Proverbs 3:29 - loyalty
• Proverbs 10:32 - comfort
• Proverbs 16:28 - unconditional support
• Proverbs 10:12 - forgiveness
• Proverbs 25:9 – faithfulness

And don't forget that these qualities are directed at us; a good friend never demands, but always gives.

There is only one example of a friendship that displays all of these qualities, and to a superior degree... that of Jesus Christ. He is our best friend; he is the friend that will never desert us; and he wants our friendship for all of eternity. He is the one who loves us and understands us. We must follow his example and learn how to treat all of our friends. Not even a world record is as valuable as a friendship. Don't you forget it!