In friendship…we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting- any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A master of secret ceremonies has been at work.

Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

My childhood friends gathered at a park near our elementary school in Provo to solve the world’s problems. The editor of the high school paper, the cheerleader, the actress, and I still found a way to get the giggles, despite all.