I stepped in with caution and looked to my left. There she was, one of my deepest of friends, waiting patiently with her chin resting in her hands propped up on the table. She jumped up with delight as the smile spread across her face and came running toward the door, thrusting her arms around my neck. Still faint from the journey, my fragile shoulders raised to exchange an embrace. We burst into an explosion of conversation before the coffee was even poured. Stepping up to the register, I hear a familiar voice in the background from behind another counter, ‘hey girl! where have you been?’

Take a trip from home and it isn’t long before we realize how often we take these friendly exchanges for granted. What pleasure can be found in a familiar face and these cordial greetings. The joy is incomparable when we’re in a place where everybody knows your name.

The following day, I attended a work meeting informing leadership about the current state of our scope of work and the projection of where we’re heading. My interest peaked when a fact revealed that many who are homeless or low income visit emergency rooms only because they are lonely and have no one else to talk to. They’re understanding is that it’s a place where someone knows their name and will listen.

The next day while at a luncheon, I met a woman who answers suicide and crisis calls in her line of work. I asked how she handles these situations and if it takes long to take people down from their emotions. She responded, “Really, I just listen most of the time. They are calling because they want someone to just listen and that’s what I’m there for.” She hears repeat callers from time to time because they now know someone will be there when they call.

What if the only place you had to turn for a friend was the ER or a crisis line? Perhaps we already feel this way. We live in a society that is subconsciously disconnecting from each other daily through social media, refraining from exposing too much of the soul, in fear this vulnerability would reveal something we are insecure and ashamed of in ourselves. When emergency strikes, the proverbial veil on this mask we all wear (to some degree) lifts as the beauty of honesty and a naked soul is uncovered. It is in a state of crisis that we reach out and find a friend in anyone who will listen. Are we all just living in a state of emergency?

Before I left for my trip, I stocked up on 30 packets of EmergenC, because I knew I was going into some rough territory, would be in close quarters with people on the plane and in trains, and could possibly be exhausted from the adventures each day. Each morning, I poured 1,000mg of Vitamin C into a glass of water, swallowed the solution and ran out the door. I was resting in my knowledge that a healthy body could keep an emergency away.

There’s no packet of powder you can take that will fill the void of a friend, a familiar face or a listening ear. These are irreplaceable gifts. You are irreplaceable because to someone you are a friend, you are familiar, you are an ear. Emergencies bring panic, fear, tension, and tears. Our Creator didn’t create us to live in a state of daily crisis, this is why He gave us community. Who do you need to reach out to today; maybe just to listen to, maybe just to be a familiar face? Let’s vow to stop this state of living in emergency and be a friend to everyone.