I feel old. Not because I’m achy or tired or anything like that. I just realized that 20 years ago the pilot episode of that classic sitcom Friends aired on NBC.

20 years. That means that half the students in college weren’t even born when Rachel came running into Central Perk in her wedding gown. I need to sit down.

I still love that show. I think I love it so much because the characters are so real and so many of the moments ring true. It’s not like so many sitcoms where the dialogue is basically endless setups for punch-lines.

Plus, who doesn’t like friends?

I’ve been blessed with some good ones. So many who love me for me, not as I should be but as I am, warts and all. So many who inspire and challenge me and — best of all– help make me more like Jesus.

Not every friend in my life is a forever friend. Some were only in my life for a season and for a specific purpose. Some weren’t good for me. But God used all of them to grow me up a little.

I’ve learned I can’t expect my friends to be something I’m not. I can’t hold them to a standard that I don’t live up to myself.

I love that Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. He said that He calls us friends because He’s let us in on the great mystery of what God is up to in the world and invited us to be a part of it.

I read something that made me pause: “Love is an act of endless forgiveness.”

I think that applies to friendship as well as romantic love. I forgive because I know I will need to be forgiven at some point. Probably at many points. You and I forgive primarily because God in Jesus has already forgiven us of so much.

I also love the fact that the one time I took a “Which Friends Character Are You Most Like?” Quiz and got Phoebe. They were more right than they knew.