Friends?

Recently I have been hit by a birage of requests from one of my sites, plaxo.com. It is a very cool contact backup software. But they moved into social networking and so now I keep getting friend requests. The request can come in 3 categories: Business contact (cold, very cold), Friend (yippee), and Family (is a close friend really family?). The conundrum comes a couple of different ways. I keep getting requests for people claiming to be my friend that I don't even know. Worse off there friend request doesn't come with a picture so I don't know if I should know them by name and just don't. One today even referred to me as Matt, which is odd because it isn't my name but I do have a cousin named Matt. And if we are really friends shouldn't you know me by my name? And just because you are a friend of a friend does that make you close enough to be my friend. And if you are a pastor that I know do I have to claim you as more than a "business contact" because that is too cold so I must claim you as a friend even though we almost never hangout or talk with each other, other than about church and ministry related activities? Wouldn't that make us business contacts even though we may like each other and respect it each other, I don't think we are firends.

Is not being a friend somehow ungodly, not Christ-like?

"A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24, HCSB)

I realize it is just social networking and all the proper manners haven't been totally accepted yet. It just got me to thinking about my real friends. Today I had good friends disagree with me and I am so glad they did. We didn't start agreeing with each other after we were done either. Yet out friendship stays in take. I am glad to have friends of integrity and friends who genuinely want to serve the Lord with their whole hearts. And no check box makes them real friends, it may be in the way that I am not harmed that proves it.

Thank you Lord for my friends.