FRIENDSHIP

MANSFIELD'S BOOK OF MANLY MEN (72-86)

• Friends are the best reflection of a man's happiness, priorities, and health
• We will never become the men we are called to be unless we learn the art of friendship and intentionally cultivate deep, meaningful, rowdy relationships with other men
• "Look, the Lord can give us victory and he might. Or, he might not. Either way, let's go." (paraphrase of Jonathan to his armor bearer.) 
• Covenant friendships have to be built on something more, on heart and purpose and matters of destiny.
• You don't wring your hands when a friend is in need and hope someone else steps up. You go. You do what you can. You put yourself in the service of your covenant brother.
• The life of men together should make them better not worse. It should not turn them from God or their wives or their duties. Instead, they should end up better, sharper, more rested, perhaps even smarter and wiser. Why not? Certainly, they should end up more eager to be genuine men.
• Men need friends with whom they share a common spirit, a mutual devotion to each other's best, and a sacrificial commitment to protect, encourage, and defend.
• "No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded to each other's worth." ~ Robert Southey, from The Doctor, ed.