For weeks we prepare for Thanksgiving. Then suddenly it's over. The laughter, the joy of seeing family and friends, even giving thanks. Odd, isn't it? Paul wrote that we are to thank God all the time. Yet we tend to confine our thanksgiving to a day or two each year...when it's convenient and doesn't get in the way of what's really important, such as shopping.

I loathe the day after Thanksgiving. Dubbed Black Friday, it is a hellish day when store employees are forced back to work---sometimes at 4 a.m., sometimes for 24 hours---so customers can shop til they literally drop for those low, low prices. Giving thanks and precious time with family and friends are forgotten, replaced by the quest for treasures the world has to offer.

This past Black Friday began as usual. Millions rushed to crowded stores. Lines of impatient shoppers snaked through cheap displays. Cash registers worked overtime. And I sat at home wondering why we so easily embrace what we buy rather than who we're with. Then the call came. Bob had died.

I first met Bob in 1989. Being in the same office building, we would occasionally see each other and chit chat. He let me use his fax machine and I'd give him some legal advice here and there. Eventually we became friends and would spend hours talking about...well, just about everything---our families, businesses, hopes, dreams, expectations, concerns, and especially our faith.

Bob reviewed my first book, Take the Stand, offered very helpful insight, and encouraged me to get it published. I returned the favor years later when he wrote a book about in-laws, specifically how Christians should treat, respect and honor them. I recommended the title In-Laws...and What You Can Do With Them, but he chose my second suggestion, Then God Created In-Laws.

For ten years, I saw Bob almost every day. We had lunch together at least once a week. And we talked a lot. I especially enjoyed his stories of life growing up in Pennsylvania and his service in the Merchant Marine. Bob was 26 years older than me and his life seemed to be one adventure after another. Worked in a saw mill at the age of 12. Boxed a bit. Played (American) football in those leather helmets with no faceguards. Once dove off a cargo ship and swam through one of the locks in the Panama Canal.

When we relocated our businesses, we stayed in touch, spoke by phone, emailed, and occasionally had lunch together. But the span between increased over time. Then one day my emails to him bounced. I called but his line was disconnected. I wrote a few letters that were returned. Eventually I discovered he was very sick. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, he had managed to keep it from me.

When the call came, I forgot all about Black Friday. Instead, I remembered my dear friend. I remembered the times we shared, laughed, complained about life, and asked for and gave advice. I remembered someone who was there for me in some of the most difficult times of my life. I remembered how deeply I missed him. And I remembered what Thanksgiving is really about.

My prayer for you, regardless of where you live, is that you know or will know a friendship as I have known with Bob. And not just one, but many. I am incredibly blessed in that way. And on those days when the world is cold and black, I pray you will remember those you have known, find time for those you cherish, and look forward with great expectation to those God will bring into your life.

God's blessings are more precious than anything the world can ever give. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...and be thankful (Colossians 3:15).

To my friend, Robert L. Bruce, October 5, 1928 - November 21, 2012. Beannachd Dia dhuit.