For his friends

If Jon Lakey could write a poem about his experience, he says, it would go like this:

I have a friend.

My friend held my ladder for me.

My friend took me to the hospital.

My friend came to visit me 19 times.

My friend brought me many desserts.

My friend is all my friends.

My friend is everybody who helped me.

My friend brought me kind words.

My friend prayed for me.

My friend gave me money.

My friend took care of all my worries in the back of my head.

Jon made a new friend at church.

"We sit in the front and there's a man who sits in the back, and I had never really talked to him," he says. "The first day I went to church, he walked all the way from the back of the church to tell me he was praying for me, every night. He did it every time I went to church. He has a lot of trouble walking, and so eventually I went to him. "I didn't have cancer, I didn't have anything serious. I didn't feel worthy of all the attention."

Jon stops for a few minutes, lost in thought.

"I have another friend in Jesus," he says. "He's the best friend. He moves all the other friends to help.

"I was thinking this morning about taking care of the needy, the street people, people down on their luck.

"But we're all needy, and we all need each other."

Throughout his life, Jon feels like he's never had much of a testimony.

But, he wonders, "Do you have to have a Paul conversion? Can you be a normal schmo who deals with struggles?

"I have a story now. I always feel God has been in my life, but now I can attach some emotions to other people's hurts and feelings.

"It all comes back to my big friend. I'm not afraid to say who's the source of everything.

"It's just like Jesus said: If you live your life the way you're supposed to and something happens, you'll be taken care of."

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