Proverbs 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

     I could have called this blog The Breakfast Club, but it is way more than that. It is a lifeline.
     We need people in our lives that will help us be and stay accountable to our Lord’s word and doctrines. People whom we have given permission to say, “no” to ourselves in life. Some of us have submitted our spiritual lives in Christ to the leadership of our pastors, counselors and ministers, but what about the other people God brought into our lives. Good friends that know us and keep us honest because most of the time they have a better track record when it comes to reading our hearts. 
      These friends are the ones who know us well. I am privileged to have such a safety net in my life. Prov. 27:17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. I do have very good and loving pastors, elders and ministers who are speaking into my life by the Holy Spirit however, I am also extremely blessed to have friends keeping an eye on my soul. Except for statutory holidays, myself and a small group of men have met for breakfast every Friday morning for the last six years. Scott, Bernie, Garry, Justin, Rob and I are the nucleus of this breakfast club, and often times others show up and, I would venture to say, “By divine appointment.”
     Later in the day our wives sometimes ask us, “Who was at breakfast, and what did you talk about?” Well, we talked about everything from tinker-toys to algorithms and we solved all the world’s problems as we normally do, no big deal.” Just us guys getting together for breakfast, trying to figure out what God has for our lives in the coming decade. 1 Thes. 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.  Heb. 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 
      Our ages average out to about sixty-five and we come from very different backgrounds. We have a diverse range of knowledge and can cover most subjects intelligently. A common denominator that we do have is that we love truth. What a blessed time that breakfast appointment is for our well-being.
     You might say, “I wish I had a safety net like that.” If you do not do anything engaging with the saints, brothers in the Lord or sisters who are in your life right now and who can help you stay accountable, then what do you expect? Prov. 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. In these times of multimedia and numerous ways of communication, there seems to be a lack of understanding and reason for being. Everyone is connected through some sort of device, but not many are connected in heart with God and man. 
      People are lonely and disillusioned with God and neighbour. They want a button to push that will attract friends and relationships and when they are tired of the same people they want another button to get rid of them. First of all, if God has brought someone into your life and the result is blessing, then take the time to thank God for them and develop a friendship of grace with that person. 
      A friendship of grace, you ask? Why? Well, how much grace did it take for the one God brought to you in friendship to accept you as you are? John 15:15a Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends. Friendships are hard to come by, so put some heart and spirit into one another’s lives. Not busybodies or intrusive gossips, but friends led by the Holy Spirit.
       So many hurt Christians have headed out into the precarious land of spiritual-walks without shield or comrades in the Lord. These loners have become casualties of their inability to connect with anyone in the body of Christ, only to languish bruised and alone. Heb. 10:25a Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. 
      I am often asked how to go forward when there have been so many disappointments in the Christian walk and in Christian relationships in particular. As my wife often says, “The Christian life is not for wimps, it takes courage.” I try to remember that I was once lost and now am found by the grace of God. It is the Holy Spirit in us that brings us into fellowship with others. We do the best we can with who we are and whom God brings our way. Rom. 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. 
      We all need a safe and friendly place of fellowship where we can be free to talk about anything from tinker-toys to algorithms. These friends and places are worth looking for and investing our hearts into. Give it an honest try, because you never know what you will find when God is invited to breakfast.