Whistle Down The Wind

 
 'I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from My Father.' John 15:15

Jesus Christ was in ministry for a very short time, about three years. But Jesus left behind Christianity, a movement that lasted beyond 2,000 years to eternity. In his 10 day devotion on 'The leadership Style of Jesus,' Michael Youssef wrote, 'Jesus poured out His life, not only on the cross, but also in the relationships He cultivated during His time on earth. As a result, one need only look to the decades following His ascension that the ragtag group of fishermen, tax collectors, zealots and other unlikely apostles had changed the world.' (Ref 1)

A good legacy of one's life are long lasting friendships and good influences. There is a song 'Whistle Down The Wind' by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Contrary to the traditional meaning of the phrase, the lyrics of this song convey the message of allowing the 'down wind' to carry one's influence to a worthy recipient. It is a song of true friendships and faithful relationships

Whistle down the wind
Let your voices carry
Drown out all the rain
Light a patch of darkness
Treacherous and scary

Howl at the stars,
Whisper when you're sleeping
I'll be there to hold you
I'll be there to stop the chills

And all the weeping

Make it clear and strong
So the whole night long
Every signal that you send
Until the very end
I will not abandon you

My precious friend

So try and stem the tide
then you'll raise a banner
Send a flare up in the sky,
Try to burn a torch
And try to build a bonfire

Every signal that you send 

Until the very end, I'm there

So whistle down the wind
For I have always been right there

True, long-lasting friendship is the kind of friendship that Proverbs 17:17 speaks of,

'A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity.' 

I love making friends. The friends I have in the community, in church and wherever I worked are very precious. They shape and influence my life. Not all of them are Christians but I treasure the non-Christians just the same. I hope that I have influenced them too, that maybe sharing my life and experiences helped them to shape their lives too. We are still talking, meeting and chatting over the internet. It is like whistling down the wind where there is always someone to hear.

But there is no better friend than Jesus Christ. Jesus' version of friendship is radically different, He introduces sacrificial love among friends, 

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:12-13

Jesus defines friendship as the willingness to lay down one's life for one's friend. This seems unreal in today's context. We think of friendships as getting together with our friends; sharing a good meal, having tea or going out for drinks. Sometimes today's friendships can be exploitative. Jesus' concept of friendship is not just to make acquaintances but to share life. The fourth-century theologian Ambrose eloquently captured this understanding, 

'Let us reveal our bosom to a friend and let him reveal his to us. Therefore, He said, "I have called you friends, because all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you." Therefore a friend hides nothing, if he is true: he pours forth his mind. In sharing everything, Jesus enables his disciples to participate in the intimacy and trust of the Father, by means of which they acquire that ‘openness’ which is the privilege of a free man and a friend.'

Many of us have experienced this self-sacrificing love and friendship of Jesus Christ. It is well expressed in a favourite hymn What A Friend We Have In Jesus, written by Joseph Scriven, an Irish poet. 

While we all sing the hymn very often, few of us know that the author Joseph Scriven was a man acquainted with griefs and sorrows. Scriven never married; two of his fiancees died just before he was about to be married. His life was plaqued with financial difficulties, poor health and depression. Yet he helped the poor and handicapped. It was said that he used to saw wood for the stoves of the handicap and elderly.  He wrote the lyrics of this song, while in Canada, to comfort his mother who was seriously ill in Ireland. 

Despite his difficulties, Scriven knew the value of a friendship with Jesus which he expressed so well in the lyrics of this hymn.

What a Friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

O what peace we often forfeit

O what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful 

Who will all our sorrows bear

Jesus knows our every weakness

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Are we weak and heavy laden

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Saviour, still our refuge

Take it to the Lord inprayer

Do your friends despice, forsake you?

Take it to the Lord in prayer

In His arms He'll take and shield you

You will find a solace there.

Let us make good friends as Christ would want us to. Let us leave behind legacies of good relationships and good influences. Let us whistle down the wind.

Lionel

Ref 1: Michael Youssef, 'The Leadership Style of Jesus' Day 10 Leading The Way Ministries.