Several European golfers considered pulling out of the PGA Championship to attend the funeral of fellow golfer Darren Clarke's wife. Heather Clarke lost a long battle with cancer and many of the Clarke's friends wanted to attend the funeral to support their comrade. In the end, only Paul McGinley, a player on the bubble for a Ryder Cup spot, chose to skip the year's fourth major event. McGinley said, "Some things are more important than the Ryder Cup."

—World Magazine, August 26, 2006, Around the Horn:Golf; Pg 43. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Proverbs 3:3-4 (CEV) "Let love and loyalty always show like a necklace, and write them in your mind. [4] God and people will like you and consider you a success."

James Carville ran Bill Clinton’s campaign for President. Over the years, he has been the President’s very supportive spokesman. In his book, Stickin’, Carville explains why even during the dark days of the impeachment, when the easy, popular thing would have been to turn on the Clintons, he stuck with Bill Clinton. He said, “I did what I knew I had to do. I had to stick with my friend. It was never really that close a call for me.”

--Carville, James, Stickin’ (Simon and Schuster, 2000) p. 31. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

It is good to have a friend like that. It is even better to be a friend like that.

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

Sissy escaped. In the early morning hours the miniature Schnauzer slipped unseen from its Cedar Rapids, Iowa home. Where could she have gone? Her owner, Nancy Franck, 64, was lying in a hospital bed, stricken with cancer. The faithful dog finally showed up in the lobby of the same hospital 20 blocks from home. How she made it there, or knew to go there, no one can say, but Nancy got a break from chemotherapy for a quick visit from her faithful pooch.

This is a great example of loyalty. We need other people to care for us with devotion like this. We need to remember to be loyal to others with the same dogged determination as this puppy. -- Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

Proverbs 3:3 (HCSB) Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.