Halloween brings a variety of thoughts to mind, but for me, it mostly means “friends.” Specifically, it means our oldest friends in the world (our oldest “couple” friends, that is). Exactly 27 years ago, on Halloween night in 1990, the four of us hung out together for the first time. Since then, we’ve spent nearly every Halloween together. That may sound strange for a pastor to say, but it became a tradition for us that had nothing to do with the dark side of the holiday, and everything to do with great friends and lots of yummy, spicy chili.

 

And just to name a few of the other wonderful times we’ve shared, we’ve eaten countless meals together, gone on multiple trips to the Oregon Coast together, laughed together, cried together, helped each other through five pregnancies and childbirths (the ladies), and played a million games of “H-O-R-S-E” (the guys, with one guy winning almost every time; I won’t say which guy). Most recently, we sent our oldest children off to college together (well, not to the same college, but we certainly suffered through the “sending” experience together).

 

Brian is a fun-loving, hard-working, hard-playing man who loves Jesus and his family. He’s the kind of guy who asks me how I’m doing rather than making the conversation all about himself. He’s always genuinely glad to see me, makes me feel at home, and compliments me far more than I deserve. Well done, Brian, well done!

 

Heidi is an amazing person herself, but I believe her best quality is the type of friend she’s been to my wife, Kelly. Heidi will forever be one of my favorite people on the planet because she listens to my wife, cares for my wife, and brings her up from the depths of despair when the need arises. Kelly endured a really terrible stretch of life this past summer and the person who helped her survive it the most was Heidi. Well done, Heidi, well done!

 

In honor of our oldest and greatest “couple” friends, I want to share a few friendship quotes:

 

“True friendship is when you walk into their house and your Wi-Fi connects automatically” (Author Unknown).

 

“True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable” (David Tyson Gentry).

 

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow” (William Shakespeare).

 

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you” (Elbert Hubbard).

 

Thank you, Brian and Heidi, for sharing your Wi-Fi password and making silent time together comfortable and loving and accepting us just how we are even though you know everything about us. Here are a couple more quotes from an even greater source than the ones above:

 

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (God).

 

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity” (God).

 

Thank you, Brian, for sticking closer than a brother. Thank you, Heidi, for loving Kelly all the time and being born, it seems, to carry her through the really tough times. Thank you, both, for all of the wonderful memories to last a lifetime and beyond. Here’s to 27 more years!

 

Troy Burns