Brothers

By birth, I have one brother. Scott is the person I have always looked up to most and will probably be that person forever. And that's okay. I don't feel pressure to be Scott, nor do I feel pressure to be different. We just are. We can sit at a table at a restaurant downtown and drink PBR, we can go hunting together in Dudley Shoals, we can remember times when we nearly set our house on fire or nearly blew each other up, we can talk about our family and how we have grown and changed, and how Jesus has completely changed our lives.

Similarly, we can spend every summer apart while I am in college, not see each other more than once every couple weeks, and have completely separate lives; him with his wife, friends, and church and me with my roommates and friends and other church. My brother will be my brother literally forever, and thank God for that. Father has used him in more ways than he knows. Or I know, probably. That dude is one of the best men I know and I'm proud to say Scott Sims is my older brother.

Having said those things, let's look an interesting verse from the scriptures:


"Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend,
And do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity;
Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away."

- Proverbs 27:10

The above verse, on the surface, seems to say that a neighbor is better than a brother, or that Solomon is saying "boo brothers." In all fairness, Solomon's brother's may not have been as good as mine. However, if we examine some other passages to get some context, it doesn't seem to be the best understanding of that verse. Let's look at the verse that immediately proceeds it:

"Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
So a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend."

I think it's safe to say that instead of "boo, brothers," the point is more along the lines of "yay, friends that are like brothers." I think it's fair to say that friends that are tight like brothers (aka "bros") are totally condoned by God. I will be so bold to assume that this interpretation of scripture is not super-controversial. Having said, that, I would like to say a few things about friends that are and have been like brothers.

In addition to my great fortune in biological family, I have had some fantastic men set before me as brothers. God has used these men to shape me, cut away dead branches from me, dig log after log after log out of my eyes, give me a hand up when sinking in a mud hole, pray over me and for me, and just be there. Brothers have been willing to tell me that they love me when I've screwed up a lot, tell me that they would hate to be one of my campers, encourage me in things I am wrestling with, and take up arms and go to war with me. Brother have been willing to run out to Krispy Kreme in snow, smoke cigars until the sun goes down, laugh with me when I almost die doing stupid things, and shoot guns with me just to throw lead.

Some have been around for a long time and they have been faithful. Some are about to enter and I don't know much about them yet. If have been one of these brothers, I want you to know I love you and I regularly thank Father for you being in my life. Michael, Sam, Tyler, Trey, Erik, Taylor, Caleb, Mitchell, Ward, Austin, Kenan, Sam, Matt, Cory, Cody, Andrew, Maliek, Ryan, Landon, Clinton, Will, Patrick, Bruce, Spencer, Adam, Jared, Brent, and many others I could name, you have been guys I would not be who I am now without.

Thanks be to God that He doesn't ask us to follow him alone, because He used community like living together at school, working at camp, or just being friends to help a man that would otherwise be stumbling alone in the dark. Whether or not you guys follow Jesus, I still thank Him for using you. Thanks, guys.