Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane first met in the sixth grade.  They have remained best friends for 60 years.  Recently, they found out that there was even more that connected them.

Macfarlane, who is fifteen months older than Robinson, never knew his father.  Robinson was adopted.  Both were interested in their family of origin.

According to Honolulu, Hawaii news station KHON-TV, Macfarlane turned to family history and DNA-matching websites to try to learn more about his ancestry after unsuccessful searches on the internet and social media.  He and his daughter, Cindy Macfarlane-Flores, started investigating the matches that he received.

CBS News reports that a top match — someone with identical X chromosomes — had the username Robi737.  Macfarlane instantly realized that the person with that user name was his best friend because Robinson's nickname was Robi and he flew 737s for Aloha Airlines.  He discovered that Robinson has used the same website to find out about his own family.

What these best friends found out was that they had the same birth mother.  They discovered that they were not only best friends; they were brothers!

"This guy was…, he was like an older brother all along," Robinson told KITV in Honolulu.

"As it should be,” Macfarlane said to Robinson, “you're my younger brother.” *

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

There is Another who desires to be a Friend and a Brother to YOU.  That Person is Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends” (John 15:13).  That is exactly what He did for you and me.  When we were separated from our heavenly Father due to our sins and on the path to destruction, Jesus died on the cross for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).  Through Him we can be reconciled to the Father (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) and be a brother to Jesus.

God will save from sin, give eternal life, and add to His Family those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed, born again) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  By the redeeming blood that Jesus shed in His death, God will continue to cleanse from sin and remain united with those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

As a friend, Jesus gave His life for you so that you may live.  He died for you so that you can be His brother in His forever family.

Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation, eternal life, and brotherhood through your trusting obedience?

-- David A. Sargent

* from “Best Friends for 60 Years Discover They Are Brothers” from www.cbsnews.com

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org