Very recently, a local celebrity updated their status message on Facebook to read:

... if you can't rely on friends or family, what else do you do?

This resulted in a myriad of different responses from friends and fans alike.  Clearly, people's heart strings were tugged at, as they were exposed to the down-to-earth and open nature of the young star.  Despite her popularity and success, through posing this question, she confesses that she is just as vulnerable as the next person.

Knowing the identity of the person that posed this question is not important as the question itself - and its answer.

The solutions put forward by others ranged from relying on tequila, to singing, to eating when all else fails, to praying to the One who created us.  I would suggest that all but one of these solutions are merely coping mechanisms; some even with the destructive potential of leading down a road of dependency if relied upon.

There was also a kind, albeit naive, response that negated the celebrity's plea, which insisted that we can always rely on our real friends.  Yes, friends are there, and true friends can be counted on especially through life's storms, but the sobering fact is that not one of us is perfect.  We live in a fallen world, with imperfect people, who sometimes disappoint us, or may even betray us, despite good intentions.  Sometimes we are the one that disappoints someone else, or hurts them by our words or actions.

Of course, that doesn't stop us from being the best friends we can be.  So, we all come with disclaimers that we don't always get things right, but every one of us has something special and of value, a distinct flavour, that we can add to others' lives.  God did not create us to be alone, but to go through life's journey with friends, undergirthing one another.

I think we can all relate to the popular Facebooker's question, because at some point or another, every one of us has probably found ourselves wondering the same thing: when all else fails, where do we turn to?

When all is said and done, we can trust Jesus and his love for us, and cleave to him, as a newborn to her mother.  His track record is pure, without blemish.

The Word himself says that he will never leave nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).  Indeed, the Lord draws us continually with lovingkindness (Jer 31:3), and is with us wherever we go (Jos 1:9).  Truly, I believe Christ's love and his presence are sweeter than the best that this world has to offer, or as Song of Songs pens it, his "love is better than wine" (Son 1:2).

The bottom line is that our love falls short of the ideal; the measure of the Ultimate Friend and Lover, Jesus Christ.  And even at this very moment, his arms are wide open, beckoning you and me ever closer.  He will never let go of us.