john 15:13

For my best friends.

The last year of high school. The last year to get everything in that you've always wanted to do. The last year to be a kid. The last year to be with the people you have grown up with, the people that you have fought with, the people you have cried with, the people you have laughed with.

Sometimes, it hits me. It hits me that the people I have grown to love and trust will soon be gone. Maybe halfway across the country, or maybe only a few hours away. Each person taking a separate path, creating a new life in a new direction. What will happen to that friendship that has been built upon years of memories? What will happen to that friend who is more like a sister or a brother? You don't want to leave them, you don't want to lose them.

But, people come and go in your life for a reason.

You don't meet the people you do because of coincidence. Not the friends, the teammates, the mentors, the teachers. Not the missionary from Haiti and his family. Not the blind, homeless man begging for money in downtown Cincinnati, or the old woman who thought you were her granddaughter in the nursing home. Not even the people that you will never even see again. Everyone you encounter comes into your life for a reason, leaving an impression that you will never forget. You may forget a name, but you won't forget the impact left on your heart.

But friends, friends are irreplaceable. Everything that a friend has ever done or said to you helps build and shape your life somehow. You experience the happiest moments in your life with friends, but you also experience the most painful. A friend is someone that you grow to trust to keep even your deepest secrets without ever second guessing them. A friendship is built upon faith. Faith that you will always be there for one another, no matter what happens. A true friend forgives even the unforgiveable mistakes. A true friend always accepts you, always supports you, always loves you. Of course, some friends are not always just a fifteen minute drive away. Friends go their separate ways in life, but even if they are 5,000 miles away, you will always carry them in your heart. You will always carry the memories, the laughs that you share. A friend helps discover who you are meant to be and what you are meant to become. And some friends, those very best of friends, are unforgettable, no matter where you end up because of the love you have for one another.

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13