He had heard about the Friend when he was little. Then, a few years later, he found Him! How sweet the Friend was! Gentle, loving and kind, He was always there for him! How he loved talking with the Friend!
He had heard a few things about the Friend and had read a bit about Him here and there. Although he didn’t know much about Him, instinctively, he felt intimately bonded with Him. If you had asked him then, he might have told you that his dream for himself when he grew up was to go out to a distant continent and tell others about the Friend.
But not very long later, he turned his back on the Friend. He cannot recall how and why this happened, but his life now took a completely different turn. It was like deliberately choosing darkness instead of light. He unthinkingly acquiesced in the claims of critics of the Friend and of those who while claiming to revere Him, taught things about Him that were not true.
Over the decades, he shuttled about like a bit of straw tossed around in the wind, letting himself go wherever his impulses drove him. Then, when he had made a mess of his life, many were the methods that he tried out in the hope of direction, succor and guidance. But everywhere, their falsity showed up in just a few days, if not sooner. Many were the practices that he forced himself to follow and beliefs that he compelled himself to swallow in the hope of getting to be in the good books of the Creator. But every time, he would soon grow tired of the effort and realise the futility of the exercise. Many were the places he went to and numerous were the people he met in the hope of a cure or in search of truth. But with this, his condition only went from bad to worse.
Even though he had turned his back on the Friend, the Friend had not forgotten or abandoned him. Almost half a century later, through a series of events, he was led to turn back to Him. No one but the Friend could give him what he needed—which was the Friend Himself. He had tasted the Friend’s goodness when he was a little boy, and nothing could take its place, he knew.
O Lord, come!
(1 Corinthians 16:22)