It was a “close” call. I picked up the phone and it was a long-lost friend telling me that he probably couldn’t go through another operation like this last one. “I’d think I’d rather die,” he said. However, he insisted on talking about how I was doing with my radiculopathy - an intense shooting pain down the arm to the fingertips. We’d alternately unravel the details of our respective sufferings which somehow, by the end of our talk, helped us regain years in our relationship. Distance and time made us lose touch until pain touched us in such a way as to make our phone conversation a “close” call. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: There are few things that can make us taste intimacy like pain…the kind God knows so well. For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21 NLT PLEASE SHARE THIS PIECE. Comments: norepcom@gmail.com