by Heather Grounds
When I went off to college I said good-bye to my old friends, not only because I was going away to school, but because my mother would soon move to a different city. At school I quickly made new friendslots of them. I had roommates. I had great friends from the many sports in which I participated. I had close friends with whom I led high school groups. I had deep friendships from the short-term mission trips we took. Plus I enjoyed the many social activities that buffer the demands of college life. But during the summer after my senior year at Baylor University, I unexpectedly had to say good-bye to my friends again.
I had been diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a fast-growing cancerous tumor, in my right thigh. I had to leave Waco and go to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for surgery and perhaps a year of chemotherapy. I was not only anxious about what I would have to face medically, I wondered if my friends would be there for me. I had no idea if any of them were capable of supporting me through that crisis. Being a friend in the face of cancer and chemotherapy just isn't one of the things college students talk about.
As it turned out, people from the church I had attended in Waco kept in touch with me. Their ongoing presence was a great help to me, but I rarely heard from my friends. The heartbreak I felt from the lack of support of even my closest friends was persistent and devastating.
When I finished my first round of treatment and went to my mother's new home in Colorado Springs to continue chemotherapy, my loneliness and loss was ever present. I had never lived there before and had no friends. I don't think my college friends realized how much I needed them. I just couldn't imagine what was so hard about taking ten minutes to write a short note of encouragement or to give me a call. Finally I concluded that what I needed was not something they could give. What a hard realization that was to come to!
Now, more than a year later, my cancer treatment is over, but the ache in my heart from the loss of my friends still remains. Yet I have found another friend, the most faithful friend of allJesus. I have a deeper reliance on God than I ever had before. He has changed my life so completely that I never want it to be what it was before. The outcome of my sorrow and loss has been sweet because through it the Lord showed me His friendship and closeness.
My outlook on how I treat my friends and how I choose close friends has changed. I seek out people who are faithful in little things. A true friend is someone who is not afraid to take the risk of loving, even when it seems difficult or appears that loving may hurt them. A friend is not afraid to feel the pain of others. When we bear the burden for another, we experience a bit of the intimacy that I believe God intends for us to experience here on earth. Jesus went through the ultimate pain and rejection for us. We at least need to try to bear the burdens of others so that we can be witnesses of the depth of God's love.
Dave Dravecky - Today's Heroes is the fast paced story of Dave Dravecky's career, written for children ages 9-12. It follows Dave's career through the Major Leagues, to his battle with can
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