Day 6

Jose Gonzales was my best friend in high school. The first time I met him was in 10th grade waiting in the hallway for lunch to be over and 5th period English to start (this was before I learned that I could pick the lock to the classroom with my glasses, but that’s for another story). He struck up a conversation about the merits of lizard meat and a friendship blossomed.

Over the years, we spent a lot of time together. Since neither of us had a car, we walked everywhere around our neighborhoods. We’d walk a few miles to go to a music store, or walk down the street to get something from the supermarket. Or walk to the Dade County Youth Fair to try to sneak in (I have no recollection if we actually ever succeeded). On our journeys we once decided to chase down an annoying chihuahua. It also had a friend; a pit bull who decided to chase us (more on THAT one another time).

Once college rolled around, we kept hanging out because (a) we both lived within walking distance of Florida International University and (b) neither of us still had a car. After a few years I graduated and headed to Texas for seminary. We didn’t really keep in touch, but every time I would fly down to Miami, we’d hook up and it’d be like I never left. Jose is one of a small handful of friends I have that are like that.

On December 21st, 2001, I was in Miami. I had finished my last class in Texas a few weeks earlier and had just gotten a position as a minister of youth at Culpeper Baptist Church in Virginia. This gave me a few days to spend with friends and family. I called Jose and we decided to walk around some. We headed toward the shopping centers and ended up at the Burger King on Bird Road and 117th Ave. I got my usual Whopper Jr. combo and we took our meals to the vacant play area outside. I did not realize at the time that my life was about to change radically.

You see, that was the last time I hung out as a “single person”.

It was in that play area, surrounded by red woodchips, that I received a phone call from Kathy Correa (my “friend” of seven years) wanting to know if I was available to get together later that evening for dessert.

We went to Swenson’s, I insisted on paying, and the rest is history.

On the sixth day, God created relationships.

Genesis 1:26 reads “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves.”

“Let us.”

“Us.”

God has always existed in terms of a relationship. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A mystery; Three yet One.

“Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves.”

We were created to live in relationship with others, as God lives in relationship with Himself. Jesus said that when two or three gather under the umbrella of His identity, that He co-exists in that relationship. God becomes visible through those relationships. Is it any wonder that the first thing Satan attacked was the relationship between Adam, Eve and God? We were created to enjoy a relationship with each other and with God.

“…to be like ourselves.”

To be like God. To live in perfect harmony and grace. The greatest commandment according to Jesus was to love God and to love others.

Pretty simple stuff, really.

Questions to Ponder
How does my relationship with God affect my relationships with people?

How do my relationships with people affect my relationship with God?

Genesis 1:21-34
Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.”

Genesis 3:1-5
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”