- My Friend -

I have a dear friend and mentor, who I shared many many discussions in the early morning hours Monday-Friday with for a period spanning almost 2 decades. He was my employer, but so willingly and openly shared his life, thoughts and experiences with a young woman, so new to recovery. I moved away just over four years ago, crying the whole way. He had assured me that "God is in control"...but at that point, I wasn't so confident as he was. I had to do something to try and put into words for him, what his friendship meant, as the best I could do was this poem. He continues to be an inspiration today.


















My friend,
When I think of you, it is like a rush of sweet memories
That flood through my mind


Nothing about you can really be put into a box or category
You are like no one I have ever known,
Your words could penetrate the most stubborn wall
And provide direction, where there was none


Your stories,
Your love,
Your laughter…
Something I always loved to bask in


No matter what the mood, your laugh could change everything
The wisdom and insight you seemed to have
Could always pierce right through my very best façade,
Never a doubt where that came from, or from Who


You could always seem to see the part of me,
The part I didn’t think anyone could see, I didn’t want anyone to see
But with you, it didn’t matter. For you to see, just made me know ... I wasn’t alone


You have always been a living example to me
An example of unconditional love…
An example of the love of Christ in my world


I love you always, with all of my heart….
And even more than that,
What a gift you are to me, to so many in this life.


Yours has been a love, perhaps not known to the powerful or the elite,
Your love has been known by the lowly, the down trodden, the homeless and the needy
And really….there is no greater love than that

To be apart from you
I often have a rush of being overcome,
With the sadness of being apart

“ I know my friend…
we are never apart in spirit,
in friendship,
in the deepest love that is only shared in Him”


God bless you Jim, I love you more than you will ever know.