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The Third Degree

Friends...

As I sat in an Edinburgh pub, waiting to meet my friend Ruth, I pondered on our friendship. We'd met in my first week at university, when we were placed in a project group together and our friendship had continued throughout university.

We had endured some of the typical highs and lows of a university friendship - the highs usually occurring at the end of the final exam before the summer, and the lows when we received the resulting grades! On numerous occasions as we'd talked, our conversations had been about spiritual issues, and when the Christian Union held their mission week, Ruth attended several events. However, all this had occurred without her ever seemingly showing any genuine interest for herself. Since leaving university, my friendship with Ruth had continued, albeit at a distance, and generally by email and the occasional phone call. I was visiting Edinburgh and had suggested we meet up, as we'd not seen each other properly for almost two years.

Evangelistic efforts ...
Awaiting the imminent arrival of Ruth, I pondered what our conversation might be about - the inevitable topics of family and career would arise, but deep down, I knew that I wanted to talk about more significant things. Throughout university, I'd been taught that I should make the most of every opportunity, and use the time to witness to my friends about what Jesus has done for me. I'd tried to pray for my friends, speak to them about Jesus and help them see the importance of the Christian message. However, I was forced to think: 'What have I done since university?' Had all the time at university that I had invested in friendships been simply neglected since then?

My time with Ruth was great - we chatted about all the expected topics, but she brought up the question of how things were going for me as a Christian. We chatted in a similar way to my university days, sadly, without Ruth ever asking about what relevance the gospel message has to her. It was great to return to our friendship, and to be able to continue from where things were left off on graduation from university.

... continuing

Later, as I pondered on these things, I thought of a friend, who on graduating from university was disappointed that her best friend, Jez, had not become a Christian. She committed to pray for her. Some years later, Jez took a career break and went travelling. While working for a few months in one city, she was invited to church and started going to a Bible study course. By the time she returned to the UK, she had become a follower of Jesus. I was challenged by my friend's example of her friendships and evangelism not ending at university, but continuing long after.

The book of Proverbs offers the advice: 'Do not forsake a friend'. How true this should be for those who have witnessed to friends as students, but have since moved on. In a few weeks' time, I am attending the wedding of another friend from university. I know that there will be many unbelieving friends there -I pray that God would use me to speak for him as I meet old friends.

Ben Carswell