Awhile back I did a series called “Peace in the Valley.” I took texts that addressed doubt, failure, disappointment, and loneliness in order to provide some “pastoral care” through the messages to people who I may not have a chance to meet with one-on-one. One of the messages was on loneliness and covered some verses in John 16. As I was reading through John 16 and reflecting upon what the text has to say about loneliness, I was struck by how I deal with loneliness more than I realized! Don’t get me wrong, I know I have people in my life who are there for me and I don’t feel all alone all of the time. But I do struggle with feeling lonely sometimes. And it isn’t my wife’s fault of the fault of my children. It’s just something that I think I’ve probably always struggled with. You see, I’m a paradox of sorts. On one hand, I’m a “people person” and on the other, I’m also very internal based with my feelings. So I have a lot of “friends” but have struggled to have close friends. And please do not send me an email or a facebook message telling me that you will be my close friend. That will simply annoy me and will not solve my problem and will probably just drive me further away from being either your “close friend” or your “friend” in the general sense! Okay, sorry… a little rant there.
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