"Hey...Chaz..It's nice to see ya again." The small imp hesitantly said, waving at him.
"I wonder why he even wants to see me, especially what happened last time." Moxxie thought to himself, his tail wraps around his ankles, a sign of nervous.
(I'm okay with whatever situation you make 👍)
The shark was pretty nervous too as he waited at the table of this little cafe he found not too far from his apartment, tapping his foot anxiously and fiddling with his fingers, trying to keep himself from bolting out the building before who he invited even arrived. He was that nervous to face them.
But when Moxxie spoke and waved at him he couldn't help but relax as he looked over at his ex, well relax a little, his stomach was still storming with butterflies "M-Moxx, same here... I'm surprised your happy to see me, I thought you'd hate my guts after last time, b-but I'm glad you don't don't get me wrong!"Chaz said awkwardly, he was still surprised Moxxie agreed to meet after he messaged him on Moxxie's new social, so he really didn't have even half a plan on how to be suave about any of this.
"Why don't you go ahead and sit down, this place has nice seats~"Chaz offered with an awkward grin gesturing to the chair across from him, noticing the tail wrapping around Moxxie's legs and trying to make this a somewhat smooth conversation, even if he was failing miserably.
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© Paolo Dala
Life’s Necessities: Friends
We need friends like we need air, food, and shelter. We may survive a few more years without friendship, but we will not truly live - now or forever - without finding a good friend.
That basic emotional (and spiritual) need runs, like a Randy Newman soundtrack, under every frame of animation in the Toy Story series. Now Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toy chest have returned (with some new friends), almost a quarter century from the day we met them in the first Pixar film back in 1995. The fourth installment in the beloved series (which some of us feared because we didn’t want them to ruin what we loved about the first three) is actually really good…
Friendships make the movies - and friendships make (or break) our lives - because God made us to love and be loved.
Life Is About Friendship
…friendship sits close to the heart of humanity because of God.
It was God who said, at the very beginning, that it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Then, at the fullness of time, God sent his own Son into the world, not only to be a friend (John 15:13), but to make and have friends (Mark 3:13-14). Jesus befriended the lowly and despised in society (Matthew 11:19). He shared the deepest intimacy with twelve disciples, and especially Peter, James, and John (Mark 5:37; Matthew 17:1; Matthew 26:37). Those three saw him lifted high on the Mount of Transfiguration, and they watched him kneel down to plead with the Father the night he was betrayed. And then, most remarkably, Christ himself turns not only to his twelve, but to us all, and says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you… . I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:14-15). Even before God, in the flesh, made friends, he knew a profound and mysterious kind of friendship within the eternal Godhead - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever loving and being loved by one another.
The Christian gospel is that God himself is our friend in Christ - and he calls us to be faithful friends. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Friendship, ordinary as it may sound, is not peripheral or supplementary to reality but rests near the core of who we are and why we exist.
In his best moments, Woody has been a whisper of the friend we have in heaven and a faint replica of the love with which we’re called to love our friends on earth.
Life Is (Not) About Friendship
Yet, for all our admiration of how Woody loves his friends, he’s a complicated cowboy. He oscillates in the films, sometimes wildly, sometimes indiscernibly, between risking himself for others and doing whatever necessary to be the most loved. He often strives to find himself - his identity, his purpose, his worth - in the adoring eyes of a child. Isn’t that, after all, what a toy was made for?
As we watch the films, we get lost in the blurriness between loving others at great cost and simply hazarding himself to be loved. Where does loyalty end and vanity begin - in Woody, yes, but also in us? Can we discern Christlike love from simply loving to be loved? In marriage, and now parenting, I have felt this tension in myself far more than I ever had before. Am I really dying to myself to lift others up, or just trying to lift myself up? The distinction can make friendship subtly dangerous.
Followers of Christ are not at all shy about the depth and beauty of real friendship. The apostle Paul writes in one place to his converts, “My brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved” (Philippians 4:1; see also 1:7-8). But as joyfully, sacrificially, and affectionately invested as Paul can be, he remains remarkably free from those he loves and serves. He says elsewhere, “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). The beauty of true friendship, godly friendship, Christ-exalting friendship is in the seeming contradictions - immense affection and consistent correction, real dependence and yet freedom from one another, great love and yet courageous truth.
The danger for Woody, or Paul, or you and me, is in letting our friendships define us. Do you have worth and purpose apart from what your spouse thinks - or your children, or your coworkers, or your friends? We were made for friendship, but not only for friendship. When our friends become our life, it is only a matter of time until they ruin us, either in this life or when they die. As we enjoy friendship, and pour out our hearts to one another, we each must be rooted and grounded in Christ - our highest purpose, our deepest joy, our greatest love.
Woody’s greatest joy was being Andy’s favorite toy, which may be just fine as far as toys go. But his animated turmoil and restlessness can serve as a warning to those who long to feel loved. If God’s love for us in Christ does not put our hearts to rest (Matthew 11:28), our friendships become fertile soil for temptation, and eventually for our destruction.
Our Friendship Will Never Die
…friendships end, whether by life changes, betrayal, or abandonment, even death, they all will end - at least for a time. All but one. When God befriended us in Christ, he befriended us once and for all. When the credits of this creation finally roll, we will meet our Creator, Savior, Groom, and Friend.
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)
This friendship will never, ever die. It will only grow, and deepen, and widen throughout eternity - no restlessness, no uncertainty, no obstacles, no fear. If Christ has called you his friend, you always will have a friend in him. And along with him, a family of blood-bought eternal friends - our favorite fellow toys from all the years. And we’ll never have to say goodbye.
Marshall Segal
You’ve (Still) Got A Friend In Me: The Charming Gravity of Toy Story 4
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