Face forward - even if not moving forward

"Hey Henry, this is Solomon. I'm in Toronto for 3 weeks for work. I'm staying at the Holiday Inn on King. Give me a call and ask for my room number."

What a surprise to get that message on my answering machine last Friday from one of my best friends. He lives in Montreal and our communication is usually by infrequent long distance phone calls. To have him be within an hour's drive was an opportunity not to be passed up for us to get together personally. We haven't done that in over 4 years since I moved away from London, Ontario.

Although he is quite a bit younger than I, we have a lot of common interests in Christian faith, engineering, aircraft (the Avro Arrow in particular), music, business, politics and more. The Toronto Aersopace Museum had finished a full-size replica of the Avro Arrow last fall. Ever since then, I had wondered, "Wouldn't it be great if both Solomon and I could see that?" This past weekend was the chance. We talked Saturday morning for over an hour but made plans to get together for the whole day on Sunday. Solomon didn't have a car, so I was going to provide all the transportation - he was going to pay for the gas and a meal.

I picked him up at the hotel and we drove back to Hamilton so he could attend my local church (that's us together in front - couldn't get the spire in the shot). It happened to be a communion service that day - so wonderful to take it with a close brother in the Lord (as an aside, check out the post on communion by Big White Hat). Solomon met my pastor and some folks from the congregation. It seems our youth group actually stayed at his church in Montreal when they went on their evangelism trip last summer. What a small world! I then showed him my handiwork with creating our church's new sound booth last year and some of the technical problems that were overcome. He thought it was great (aw, shucks..).

I showed him some of the natural sights so close to my apartment and how great the view is from this part of the city. He was so impressed and compared it to Mont Royal in the heart of Montreal. We zipped off to Toronto to get to the museum and check out the replica of our favourite aircraft. We were not disappointed (more on that later). Afterward we went out for dinner and talked again for a few hours about life, faith, women, careers, God's leading and timing in life situations, etc. We tried to wrap up our day in less than half an hour while dropping him off at the hotel. We missed each other so much and there was a lot to catch up on. I don't have many friends like him, but he is a gem. Thanks for the day, man!