Two AM Friends

It’s a great concept, “Two AM friends.” It means having the kind of friends you wouldn’t hesitate to call at two o’clock in the morning because you know they will be there for you. It means having the kind of relationships that even if the two AM need is a consequence of sin or stupidity we would still call and our friends would still show up. A two AM friend is a friend who is a fellow follower of Jesus who really takes Ephesians 4:1-2 seriously:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…

I have Two AM friends. I want to be, and try to be, a Two AM friend. But I had a recent experience that both convicted me of my pride and caused me to reconsider the kind of friend I want to be. I got a call from a friend but it wasn’t at two AM, it was at two PM.

At two AM there’s nothing going on, at least not for me. At two AM I’m drooling on my pillow. At two PM I have all kinds of things going on. At two PM, I have calls to return, meetings to attend, work to complete, plans to plan, appointments to keep… you get it. At two PM my friend’s need was inconvenient, an interruption. The two PM need revealed the unholy separation between what I do and who I am called to be.

The two PM call scared me. I know there have been many times I have been called but was too busy to hear the call or simply justified not responding because I am so engaged in doing my agenda. My agenda makes everyone that isn’t on it an interruption, a threat, a problem. So does yours.

I repent and ask you to help me repent. I want to be as good a Two PM friend as a Two AM friend. I want my life to be lived on God’s agenda with the humility and gentleness that come from knowing that all these people that “interrupt” my day are brought to me in the will and purpose of sovereign God. And, if I meet them excited to see why he brought them along maybe I will become a good Two PM friend and not just a too busy friend. “Two PM friend,” that’s what I want to be.