Never Forsake a Friend!

Proverbs 27:10 – “Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend…”

An unexpected package was delivered to our house this past week from a lady we have never met in person (unless you count when Joe was a little, tiny baby). We wondered what this dear woman had sent to us. Her name is Alice. She was a member of my father-in-law’s church in Tampa, FL, in the late 1950’s. Over the past fifteen years since the death of Joe’s dad in 2002, we have received notes and Christmas cards from Alice. In addition, every year at Christmastime she sends us a Texas Apple Pecan Cake or a world-famous Deluxe Fruit Cake sent from the renowned Collin Street Bakery, that opened in 1896, about 50 miles from Dallas, TX. (If you must know, my favorite is the fruit cake.  I googled how many people like fruitcake and it appears that about 20% of people do indeed like it, so I’m not that weird. I’m also in the 10% of people who are left handed, so being left handed must be weirder than liking fruitcake.)

So back to Alice’s package. We couldn’t imagine what she would have sent to us at this time of year. She once sent a check with a note for Joe to use the money to buy a suit. (That was such a blessing at a time we could not afford one and Joe really needed a new one!) And over the past couple of years, she has been a faithful supporter of Joe’s discipleship ministry to pastors and leaders in Moldova and Uganda, as well as in the US. Cakes only come at Christmas and those are shipped from Texas with a kind note from Alice. This was in a brown cardboard package directly from Alice addressed in her own handwriting.

Well, when we opened it, our eyes filled with tears, as we unwrapped a precious and thoughtful gift – Alice’s well-worn, marked-up with many notes, red leather Bible from many years ago. On a purple sticky-pad note, Alice wrote, “Dear Bro Joe, Couldn’t dispose of these things-thought you would like them. Love, Alice.” Wow! We wouldn’t have been more blessed if the package had contained a $1,000 bill. WE were overwhelmed with Alice’s love and thoughtfulness in sharing her life and memories with us.

Tucked inside the worn Bible were some precious hand-written letters from Joe’s mom and dad to Alice and her late husband, Oscar. In reading the letters, we learned that Oscar came to know Jesus after Alice had prayed for years and after Joe’s parents had left the church in Tampa. One letter, postmarked July 2, 1965, was written in Joe’s dad’s handwriting from his church office in Green Cove Springs, FL.

Apparently, Alice had contacted Joe’s parents to let them know that Oscar had become a Christian. The letter was in response to this good news.  Pastor Joe Olachea, Sr., writes, “We are so glad to hear about Oscar receiving Jesus Christ as his very own personal Savior. Praise the Lord, it is an answer to prayer and all glory and praise unto Him who has loved us and given Himself to redeem us by His precious blood. Glory!” The letter follows with an encouragement to Oscar to continue walking with Jesus and letting Oscar know that some booklets were on the way to help him to grow in Christ.

We were overwhelmed as we looked through the other pieces of paper, pieces of history really, tucked in the old red Bible. Alice’s wedding announcement with her picture as a beautiful, young bride. Obituaries for Oscar, Joe’s mom, Ermina Rose Olachea, and his dad, Dr. Joe R. Olachea. A news clipping about the funeral of Dr. Lester Roloff and three others who died in a plane crash in 1982. (Dr. Roloff was a friend of Joe’s dad and a well-known evangelist in that era.) There were poems by Mrs. Ruth Narramore, whose husband shared Jesus with my father-in-law when he was in junior high school. There was a poem called “My Pastor” by Essie Hunter and a couple of tender, hand written love poems, one by Alice’s son to his girlfriend and one about Alice’s sister who died at age 17. What a precious gift we received from the friend of Joe’s father! Proverbs 27:10 rings so true, “Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend.” What we would have missed if we had not regarded Alice’s friendship when she reached out to us in 2002.

Even though we have not met Alice in person, she holds a very special place in our hearts. And even though we haven’t seen her face to face, she is like family to us. Through her notes and her gifts we have learned some things about Alice.

• Alice loves Jesus.
• Alice loves her family.
• Alice loves her pastor and his family.
• Alice prayed for her pastor.
• Alice prayed for her family.
• Alice loves us.
• Alice prays for us.
• One day we will meet Alice in person when we are all with Jesus.
• Alice is a lady who shares God’s love with others.
• Alice is an encourager.
• Alice is a generous lady, who obeys the Lord.
• Alice is not rich, but Alice is “rich” in love and good works!
• Alice is a friend of God.
• Not only was Alice our father’s friend, she is our friend.

I took the liberty of looking through the Bible Alice gave to us, to see what Alice had marked in the book of Proverbs.

If you would like to see the verses that Alice found to be significant, please click here  and subscribe to the ProverbWise: Wisdom Calls! newsletter. When you do,  I will send you a pdf list of the verses in Proverbs that I discovered in looking through her Bible. May these verses encourage you as they encouraged me.

Thank you, Alice, for your love, your prayers, and your generous and precious gift. We will treasure it always, and we look forward to meeting you one day in the presence of Jesus with your Pastor Joe and his loving wife, Ermina Rose, and your beloved Oscar! You are indeed a virtuous woman who fears the Lord and is to be praised! May your good works praise you in the gates!