“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

“Chappy,” Mike said. “Do you ever wonder what comes after this?”

“After what?” I asked. “The Army?”

“No. Have you ever thought about what happens after you die?”

“Yes.”

“Are you afraid of death?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because Jesus is so real to me. He saved my soul. I know that when I die, I will go to heaven to be with Him.”

Mike looked up at the stars and I did too. I don’t remember ever seeing as many stars as there were in the sky that night over Baghdad. After a minute or so of silence, he said, “Goodnight Chaplain, I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned and went inside the tent. I sat there for a while and prayed for him. Then I went inside, found my cot, and went to sleep.

The preceding conversation took place ten years ago. Operation Iraqi Freedom was winding down and changing to Operation New Dawn. Soon, all U.S. Military Forces would leave the country. Soon, we would all be home. However, Al Qaeda was still active in our area. Iraq was still a dangerous place. So, when Mike asked me about death, I assumed he was worried about the war. How could I have known that there was a war going on inside his soul?

Sometimes we have wounds that are not visible. Mike was wounded inside. He was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was carrying a tremendous amount of pain that came from multiple combat tours.

When we arrived home, I was transferred. Mike and I kept in touch through social media. He would often share pictures of his family, especially his kids.

Last Friday, on Valentine’s Day, Mike took his own life.

By the time you read these words, Mike will be buried. He will be just another statistic. He will be just one of the twenty U.S. Military Veterans who die by suicide in America each day. But to me, he was more than a statistic. He was my friend. I will live the rest of my life with the heartache of not being there when he needed a friend to lean on.

If you know someone who is suffering from depression or PTSD, give them a call. Better yet, go visit them. Who knows? You just might be a friend who can make a difference.

As I have been grieving for Mike, I have sought counsel from another Friend. I have turned to Jesus for comfort. Jesus is a Friend who will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). He is a Friend Who loves at all times (Proverbs 17:17). He is a Friend Who laid down His life for His friends (John 15:13). I don’t know how a person can make it in this world of heartache without my Friend, Jesus.

The point is: Jesus is One Friend you can’t afford to be without. When you turn from your sin, ask Him for forgiveness, and submit to Him, Jesus becomes your Savior, Lord, and Friend. Once you come to Christ, He will be your Friend to the end…and beyond.

Is He your Friend?

James Collins is a retired U.S. Army Chaplain and current pastor of Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. If you are a Veteran in crisis, call 1-800-273-8255, or call Pastor James at (620) 223-2986.

Mr. Green peered over his fence and noticed that the neighbor’s little boy was in his backyard filling in a hole. Curious about what the youngster was up to, Mr. Green asked, “What are you doing, Jimmy?”

Tearfully, little Jimmy replied, “My goldfish died, and I’ve just buried him.”

“That’s an awfully large hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?” Mr. Green said.

Patting down the last bit of earth, little Joey replied, “That’s because he’s in your cat!”

I know how Jimmy feels. When I was eight years old, the week before Easter I walked downtown to the Kress store, and after spending my entire allowance, returned home with five pink baby chicks. Placing them in the large box I had prepared for them with straw, a soft blanket, water and food pellets, I doted on them for hours while I sat on the ground beside their new home, lifting one at a time to cuddle it.

When the phone rang, I ran inside to answer it. Returning to my quintuplets about ten minutes later, I was horrified to find bloody feathers strewn across the yard. Nearby sat a demon-cat with a pink feather dangling from its snarling mouth. In hysterics, I chased that evil feline until it scampered up a tree where, had I gotten my hands on him, it would have been the beneficiary of the same demise as Jimmy’s catch.

My heart was broken, and even though I might have been a tad bit at fault for leaving my babies unprotected, I accepted none of the blame and instead decided to enact revenge on that homicidal cat. I would stalk him just like he did my chicks. By sundown he had won. My mother refused to let me sleep under that tree with the intent of torturing that murderer, and by morning he had skedaddled, never to return.

I was not able to exact revenge. Bummer!

Martin Luther King knew all about the futility of payback. Perhaps that is why he quoted Mahatma Gandhi when he repeated, “The old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.” When Jesus said we are to love our enemies, he knew that revenge might be sweet, but its after-taste isn’t. Researchers have found there is additional stress and fear in those who perpetrate a “take justice into my own hands” action, probably because most acts of revenge go beyond the original transgression. One has to look no further than gang wars to see this carried out.

As Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to “turn the other cheek.” In our flesh that might not be impossible, but by relying on God-living-in-us, that type of forgiveness means we no longer feel the need for revenge which is, incidentally, the only way to demonstrate we represent a holiness that sets us apart. In other words, we are not to act in a vengeful way if we are to be Christlike.

I’m just not so sure Jesus included demon cats in that category.