I got hit in the gut just before lunch, and I'm still feeling it. I learned that our best friends are separating. She wanted out.

Pam and I never saw this one coming. Great people, great friends, great kids.

I called him a couple hours ago. He's devastated, a "basketcase," he told me. She told him just last night that she was leaving, and her mind was made up. I told him to call me anytime he needed to talk, and that I would drop whatever I was doing if he wanted to get together. I meant it.

I love these people. I know reconciliation is possible. And I know that God is sovereign. Pam and I will be spending a lot of time in prayer over this one (she and Pam have been quite close). My friendship will go a long way, as will that of other persons. There is a middle-schooler at home, great kid.

Pastors deal with situations like this often. I've heard other people tell of friends who separated or divorced, and, "I didn't think it would ever happen to them." But it does. That's our world.

I think my friend was happy to talk to me, glad to hear a voice of acceptance and assurance, after he had been dealt a blow of rejection. He'll need more of that. And I think of someone else at church whose husband left her a year-and-a-half ago for another woman. I'll bet she's still dealing with a lot of pain even after all this time, and I've not shown her the concern and support and encouragement that I did in those early months. I need to pay more attention to the people around me.