(52) Friends with Benefits

I have three friends, Amy, Betty and Cathy. They each have one, two and three sons respectively.

One day we talked about the morals of teenagers. Each of them had something to say. Amy lives in New Zealand. She related how her son had a girl friend while in University. While the son and the girl friend had never shared a room in her house, she knows that they had sexual relations in Uni and on trips. Since she is old fashion, she did talk to him about ruining the girl friend's prospects of a good marriage if he uses up her youth and then dumps her. Anyway, they broke up upon graduation. What she could not understand is the fact that they broke up amicably after a three night and four day stay in a really out of the way beach resort.

That disclosure brought confession out of Betty, remember Betty has two sons. Her second son had a girl friend in Pre-University. Although the son went to study in UK but the girl friend went to Australia, the on and off relationship lasted five years before they called it quits. Once again, both went on a week long farewell trip before parting.

Cathy has three sons. The youngest has the best look and is six foot tall. He studies in Singapore. According to the mum, he is in his second year in engineering but is currently dating his third girl friend. Needless to say, it is like the TV show "Friends with Benefits". She sighed and said she did not know what this generation has come to! After all, all of us know that Amy, Betty and Cathy each married their first boy friends. Although all three met their beloved abroad, it was unlikely they could move in with their heart-throbs. They have brothers and sisters in the same apartments watching over the conduct of each other.

They all look at me, I said nothing about my sons. Well, neither have brought any girl home. As long as each is serious about his walk with God, it is unlikely they would get ensnared in illicit sexual relationships. Kenneth is preparing to be a missionary. Not only he needs to find a spouse who loves and obeys God, he really needs to find someone with the same type of calling so that she would be willing to relocate to the ends of the earth for God's purposes. At this point it hits me that as believers, we are in the world but not of the world. We may reside in South East Asia but our citizenship is really in heaven. We are but travelers passing through for seventy to eighty years.