A delightful surprise ...

It's funny ... some friends come into your life quietly, and one day you realize how important they are to you ... other friends come into your life suddenly with great drama and fanfare and in time you realize that they are full of bluff and blunder, but have little significance in your life and pass as quickly as they arrived ... while still other friends come into your life and as the tides ebb and flow, you may lose touch, but they are never far away ... and in the moment when you need them most, whether you are aware of that need or not, they are there ...

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I have just such a friend ... I remember the first day we met ... he was invited to dinner at our house with his wife and three sons ... we were gathering a group of us who lived in Bella Coola and had no where else to be on that holiday ... so, we opened the doors of our house and said - "Come on in ..."

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We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into ...

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He strolled in the door of the kitchen, picked up a magazine sitting on the flour bin with an article about Matthew Fox's theology of The Cosmic Christ. He took one look at the magazine, tossed it back and looked me in the eye and began without so much as a hello or a greeting by asking, "SO, what do you think about the Cosmic Christ?"

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The only thought I had was - "who is this GUY ?? and WHY is he in my house???"

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Thankfully, I came to appreciate his eccentricities, his passions, his wisdom and his humour ... In the 15 years since we've first me Ger has become like a brother to me ... we've talked, we've argued, we've drank together, we laughed at each other and with each other ... we've maintained a friendship that may have stretches when we don't talk ... but through some cosmic quirk, we've always managed to be in touch precisely when we've needed each other ...

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And tonight when the phone rang and I heard his voice ... I knew it was one of those moments ... we didn't talk about anything earth shattering ... but it reminded me that I am not alone ... something that in the precise moment the phone rang I was feeling ...

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So ... I can only say - thanks to Ger for a friendship of 15 years of life's ups and downs ... and thanks to the Cosmic Christ for making it all possible ... One day I really need to read some of Fox's work so I can finally offer an answer to Ger's question ...

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And one day I'll tell the stories of Ger and food ...