Years ago when our first-born, Kyle, was just a little fella with fat cheeks and chubby hands we had a Friend Day at the little village church I pastored at the time. I challenged everyone to bring a friend. I actually asked them to get their friend to sign a card promising that they would be there.
Driving home one day with little Kyle he said with worry in his voice: “I don’t have a friend.”
“That’s OK.” I said.
He said, “No, I want to bring my own friend to Friend Day.”
I had an idea. “Kyle we are going to visit a family. I’m going to talk to them for a while then I am going to tell them about Friend Day. Then I’m going to tell them you have a question. I want you to look your lady right in the eyes and say, ‘I don’t have a friend for Friend Day. Will you be my friend.’ Then I want you to keep looking right at her and just be very quiet.”
We drove to Russell and Pauline Litt’s tidy white home right on State Route 661 in the village of Brandon and went in for a nice visit. Russell was a quiet man. Pauline was more verbal. We made small talk for a while and then I told them about our Friend Day. Then I said, “Kyle has a question for you.”
I looked at Kyle. Kyle looked at Pauline. He said, “Yea, we’re having a Friend Day at church and everybody in supposed to bring a friend, but I don’t have a friend. I really want to have a friend for Friend Day. Will you be my friend.”
In his little hands he was holding his Friend Day promise card. She immediately said, “Why of course we will be your friends. Bring that card over here.”
She took the card and signed her name. On Friend Day they were true to their promise. She wore a flowered dress and he wore a gray suit with a neat tie. The next Sunday and every Sunday thereafter, as long as I pastored the village church in Brandon, Russell and Pauline were regulars.
When I went to the churc
h there were about 60 in attendance. On Friend Day we filled the sanctuary and the fellowship hall and there were 321 souls in attendance. After that our average attendance jumped to over 150 in that little village church.
That is a sweet memory. Russell and Pauline are gone. Kyle is a pastor in Grand Rapids still making friends and inviting people to church. There are other Russells and Paulines out there, though who would be open t
o a friendly invitation to church or lunch or a gospel concert or a cook-out. It’s not that hard. You just have to
lookem’ in the eye and be quiet.
Bittersweet Farm
September 2021