FORGIVEN

There is a man by the name of Randy Sparks.  He is one of the best friends I have
ever had.  One of the bad things about being bipolar is that those of us with this
mental illness can have major mood swings.  Unfortunately, I was really mad at
Randy and told him that I was unable to talk to him anymore. Please never call me.
That was over four years ago.

Thank God for my cousin, Larry Hooker.  We spent this past weekend together.
That is , "Another story, for another day".  Bottom line, he convinced me to not
live my life through fear but to live my life with love and gratitude.  It is a NO brainer.
However, it was nothing short of a miracle.  Somehow Larry found a way to my
wounded heart.

I called Randy and apologized.  Easier to do on voicemail than in person.
This is the text that I received from Randy.

"Hello my long lost friend!  Its Randy.  I was so glad to get your message.
Of course you are forgiven and there's no need to rekindle our friendship -
you've never not been my friend!  We just need to catch up.  I'm recuperating
from some surgery to fix torn cartilage so pretty tired in the evenings but
I'll call you this weekend.  Aug 31, 7:50pm"

My response:

Fantastic!  I have missed you so much.  Looking forward to catching up.
If you want to recoop in sunny California, feel free to fly to Santa Barbara.
I live six blocks from the ocean.  You can stay at my place!  Thanks for
forgiving me.  Aug 31, 8:00 pm

Randy and I became friends in 1997 when we became prayer partners for
my first short term mission trip in the Dominican Republic.