"Delta Force" is the popular name we have given to the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), our most elite troops of the United States Army. They were rumored to be but broke into the open through the movie Blackhawk Down and the assault on the compound in the October 3, 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.

On Monday Delta came through with force and it did involve Special Forces, at least a Colonel and Battalion commander of a multi-national NATO force of Special Forces warriors. Let me explain.

Friends are life's great treasures. "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17. God chose not to give me any brothers, but he graciously made up for it in a pile of male friends. When all is said and done and the experience is over, we carry away the reservoir of cherished memories tied to our friends. I have been around a lot of people as they died and gone through the experience with them. When it is all done, what we value is those most close to us, our family, our friends.

My friend David flew through Cincinnati Airport on Monday. He is an elite soldier with the United States Army who is now a Colonel and Battalion Commander of a group of multi-national NATO elites (SF) at a training center in Europe. I see him infrequently. In March 2005, I joined him at Patch Army Base in Stuttgart, Germany for a couple of days while coming home from Romania.

David was traveling through with his lovely wife and three neat kids. We all had a fifty minute window to work with. The first shot was low. We thought we would just hang around the TSA opening and wave at each other through the "prison bars". But the bonds of friendship beckoned. Another plan had to be enacted. We had to aim higher. So we did. We took a shot at the CEO of Delta Airlines...by fax. The shot struck home and the "Delta Force" team came through.

My college roommate (Drew) and I met the Delta representative at Kiosk 4. From there on out we were treated like royalty. At the directive of Delta's CEO, we were issued passes to go through the security check to get to the terminal. We were met there and escorted through the bowels of the Cincinnati airport through a series of security doors onto the tarmac. We entered a Delta Corporate vehicle and made our way across the runway matrix to another concourse to arrive in time to be standing on the tarmac as their commuter connecting flight rolled in. We were there to greet them in person as they walked down the commuter flight's steps to the ground. (David told me later he looked out of the plane window as he taxied up and asked, "Mounts, what are you doing? And how did you get there?") Hugs and words of greeting stirred the renewal of acquaintance as we were together again for the fourth time since college days at Cedarville University as the seventies closed. Our buddy Dave was one of the last to get off the plane. They put the big guy in the back. His persona and body type fit the part of an elite soldier. The grace of God and the Army have joined forces to make quite a man.

We were whisked aside to an awaiting vehicle that had ample room for the whole entourage. The seven of us piled in to the ride across the tarmac matrix of side roads skirting the runway. The Delta agent guided the driver right to the pre-designated drop. It was back up through the maze of elevators and security doors to be received in the Crown Room. This is Delta Airlines equivalent to the posh lounge for their privileged patrons. But we were there through the grace of God and the kindness of the corporation that enabled us to move the chains down the field another ten yards in great experiences shared together by good friends. We were a little indulgent, but not unduly so. We did take down the bar for some water and apple juice and dried fruits, nuts and pretzels and even received an apple or two. The fifty minutes passed quickly. We had been given a private room. As my Grandmother would have said, "We were living like rich people!"

Too soon the agent signaled that the departing flight was now boarding. We were ushered out to the departing gate where we had prayer and they were on their way. We had had the privilege of a great hour of conversation and laughter and hugs with our dear friends. All because of the Elite Delta Force troops,... well kinda, who had led the way in facilitating this interaction.

In a material age we are seduced to think otherwise, but in the final analysis...I mean the real final analysis when all is said and done, it will not be the things that we have purchased and enjoyed as much as it will be the people we have connected with along the way that will define our life's great treasure. Our best investments in life are in people. We had so much fun yesterday. It was about the outrage of just sharing each other's company. Too often we have time for everything else but sharing each other company. Hospitality by and large belongs next to the Mastodon at the Smithsonian. It is a relic of a by-gone age. But all investments in friendship are well worth the effort. Yesterday was great. It was another deposit in the bank of memories for this friendship. Those deposits pay such big dividends. Taking time to be a good friend is counter-cultural. But it is worth its weight in gold in realizing the fruits of friendship that flower as we continue to invest. There is nothing quite like a good friend.

Job marveled that "the friendship of God" was over his tent. There is something seductive about his metaphor that I want to bore into. Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:14-15. The glory of the gospel is that Jesus has come to make God's enemies (the inevitable result of our sin) his friends. A God yearning for connection with me is a message that validates my very existence and anchors my life to that quest above all others of knowing the living God through Jesus Christ.

So a big shout out to Delta Airlines and their kindness today! Our handler asked how we were connected with Mr. Gerald Grinstein, the CEO of Delta. The instructions for our handling had come down from him. My college roommate said the kind man looked very deflated when I told him I just got the name off of the internet. Our cover was blown. We were not high value targets at all...not well connected folks. Just a couple of friends who searched the internet and were digging around for how we could scrape together a few more minutes to invest in our friendship with our other buddy from college, the Colonel, our elite troop friend, David! And thanks to elite troops from Delta Force, kinda...or at least Delta Airlines...we made it and had the time of our lives.