it is safe for God to give his all to Abraham. Because Abraham has grown to live and love and think like God, God's gifts will not spoil Abraham. A father cannot give an immature son his inheritance.

There are some essential areas of life about which we must be in agreement with God in order to walk with Him. We must agree with Him in His assessment of the world, His assessment of ourselves, and His plan for us. Not until we grow in all of these areas can our faith move to find its fulfillment of friendship with God.

Christians are to have a life of giving. We are to be people who have a nature of giving. If we only think about it in terms of our weekly offering, we have missed a great lesson.

Abraham must show that every portion of his life is open to God but not on the promise of blessing and not on the threat of punishment. Both of those are missing in Genesis 22. He must show it simply on the unqualified need of his Friend. God said, "I need Isaac." Abraham said, "He's yours."

Do you know whom I seek out when I feel small and weak against the troubles of my life? I go to Julie. It never enters my mind that she will not love me for simply being human. That she will be a shelter for me – without question or reservation – is always my trust. I know that about her because I know her. Julie is good, compassionate, and tender

Abraham lived before God and demonstrated the power of a man's faith. He showed God that a man's faith is something that can be trusted and that will not be spoiled if God draws near to bless it.

There was nothing that ever drove us apart. Our paths simply diverged. We stopped walking down the same road. He took one fork. Julie and I took another. We still hold Jimmy as a friend and I am confident he does the same for us, but the relationship has not grown in years. Our choices led us in different walks of life. When our paths diverged, our

Love trusts that the heart of the other person is not holding anything back.

There is a great divide between friendship giving and charity.