WILLIAM L. COLEMAN
FRIENDS FOREVER A Devotional Book for Teens About Friendship: Making Friends, Being a Friend and Keeping Friends
PHILIPPINES
FRIENDS FOREVER
A Devotional Book for Teens About Friendship: Making Friends, Being a Friend and Keeping Friends Š by William L. Coleman Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible Revised Edition, copyright Š 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Published and distributed by Paulines Publishing House Daughters of St. Paul 2650 F.B. Harrison Street 1300 Pasay City, Philippines E-mail: edpph@paulines.ph Website: www.paulines.ph Cover and inside images: Ann Marie Nemenzo, FSP All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher. 1st Printing 2014 978-971-590-776-7
at the service of the Gospel and culture
Table of Contents Give Us People Even Good Friends Can Make Fun of One Another Friends Forever Best Friends Varsity Players and Cheerleaders Parent-Teen Dialogue Dull Churches Change Is Tough Insulted Helping Other Teens Boring Friends Friends Who Hurt Us Friends Surprise Us Being Yourself Not an Athlete Sacrifice by a Friend Unworthy Friends The Spirit-Connection Slow to Pop Your Top Need Some Answers Burning Out Friends and Faith Talk About Your Friends Learning to Trust
5 6 8 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 36 39 42 45 48 50 53 55 61 64 67 69  3
Popularity An Unusual Friend Great Grandparents! Empty Heads A Grouchy Teacher Guard Your Head Bailing Out Keeping a Relationship Be Your Body’s Best Friend Proud of Your Parents Knots on Their Heads How Far Is Too Far? A Second Look at Going Steady Feeling Inferior Embarrassed by a Family Member Ending a Friendship Love: A Hard Word to Use Importance on Looks God: Our Most Important Friend
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72 74 77 80 83 86 89 92 96 99 102 105 108 111 114 117 120 123 126
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he Grand Canyon is breathtaking. Thousand-foot waterfalls are beautiful. Computers are intriguing. But none are as exciting as people. People sing in parks at midnight. People put fish in your locker, study history half the night and sit beside you when you break up with your steady. When the bands stop playing, the lights go out and you leave school for the last time, it’s the friends that you remember. Friends are too important to take lightly. They deserve the right attention and some generous sharing. This book is aimed at keeping friendships alive and rewarding, just the way God invented them.
Bill Coleman Aurora, Nebraska
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hat’s another thing about having Christian friends you can have them forever. You may change locations and move thousands of miles away. But you will get together again someday. You may find different interests and drift apart. But that won’t matter either. Years from now you can meet again and share plenty of interests. Christians become separated, but only for a while. In the “Forever” they are reunited because they belong to Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn’t tell us what we will be doing forever. Will we cruise around on clouds? Can you imagine electric harps or angels rapping? It all boggles the mind. No, the Bible doesn’t say any of that. In fact, it doesn’t fill in many details. The bare essentials are these: Jesus Christ will be there and we will all bow our
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knees to Him (Phil 2:10). Jesus will be the number-one attraction. We also know we will be changed in the great forever. That probably means no more frizzy hair, no more braces, and most of us will be down to one chin. All of that is speculation, but we assume that changes will be improvements. The third thing we know is that Christian friends will get together. It’s the great class reunion, and we won’t want to miss it. “Forever” is a special gift that God gives to believers. It allows us to make friends in history class and keep them for longer than we can count. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” – 1 John 3:2
Some things to think about: 1. Have you had a Christian friend move away? Was that separation easier because you are a Christian? 2. Do you feel that your Christian friends are spiritual brothers and sisters? 9