A couple of years ago, my family and I took a trip to Normandy, France. We stood on Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. We walked through the American Cemetery, where row after row of white crosses stretch toward the sea. We drove through the Normandy countryside, where during World War II, American soldiers fought their way through hedgerows and small French villages. It's quiet there now. Beautiful, even. But you can still feel the weight of what happened in 1944.

Band of Brothers is a TV series based on the Stephen Ambrose book of the same name. I've read the book, and I've seen the series more times than I can count. It is a tradition in my house to watch all 12 hours of the series every Memorial Day.

It tells the story of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division—their experiences in World War II, from training in Georgia to celebrating the end of the war at Adolf Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

The men in Easy Company weren't related by blood. They came from different states, different backgrounds, different walks of life. They were just regular guys thrown together into an Army unit.

But their shared experiences changed that. By the time they reached the Eagle's Nest, they weren't just friends anymore. They were brothers—men who would die for each other, who knew each other's souls, who carried each other's pain.

The series takes its name from Shakespeare's Henry V. Before the Battle of Agincourt, King Henry tells his outnumbered soldiers: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." Shakespeare understood something about the way shared adversity affects people.

Which brings us to Proverbs 17:17: What's the difference between a friend and a brother?

The Hebrew word for friend is rea—someone you choose. But ach, the word for brother, carries the sense of being born into relationship. You don't choose your siblings; you inherit them.

So here's what the proverb is saying: Friends who love at all times—who show up in the hard moments, who stay when things get difficult—they become brothers. Adversity doesn't just test relationships; it transforms them into something deeper.

That's what happened to Easy Company. They chose to be friends, but combat forged them into brothers. Standing there in Normandy, I could almost see it—how every shared foxhole, every battle, every loss made them more family than some people born in the same house ever become.

And here's where this hits home for us: The Church isn't meant to be a social club of people who happen to share similar beliefs. We're called to be a family—brothers and sisters forged together through shared adversity.

What transforms us from friendly acquaintances into actual family? The same thing that transformed Easy Company. Showing up when it's hard. Sitting with someone through grief. Walking alongside them through doubt. Being honest about our own struggles instead of pretending we've got it all together.

Jesus calls us friends in John 15, but by the time we've walked through real life together—through loss and doubt and failure and redemption—we become something more. We become the family of God, brothers and sisters, not by birth but by choice made permanent through shared adversity.

So, who in your life has moved from friend to family? Who showed up when everyone else disappeared? And maybe more importantly, who needs you to be that person for them right now?

Father, thank you for the friends who became family by loving us at all times. Help us show up for each other in the hard moments, knowing that's where true brotherhood is forged. Amen.

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