It was this picture of our dog that led to our two-day obsession with Facebook. It began when Winfield Flower Shoppe posted a contest for the best pet Halloween costume. The rules were simple: post a picture of your pet in costume, invite friends to like it and the picture with the most likes won a $50 gift certificate to the store.

I entered the contest Saturday morning, and voting ended Monday at 9 a.m. I began checking the number of likes every hour on the hour, every half-hour on the half-hour, every quarter hour on the quarter-hour.

Facebook friends suddenly took on a new and immediate importance. They could help my dog win!

For most of the day, our dog was top dog. The competitors were few; our likes were many. Suddenly, Saturday evening we had a serious competitor, and the likes were up and down. It was nerve-racking.

It was not a restful Lord's Day. Our likes froze on Sunday at 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. I guess it's a good thing people weren't liking our dog during the worship services. And we managed not to check our status during worship.

Then lunch came and we sent out requests to our friends to ask their friends to like our dog's costume. We emailed people to like our dog. We kept Facebook open on our devices to make it easier to track the likes. At 10:30 p.m., exhausted, we went to sleep. Our dog had two more likes than her competitor.

Monday morning. What do you think was the first thing I did? We checked Facebook. Our dog had surged ahead with 10 more likes. We could go to work now. At 9 a.m., we finally relaxed when the email announcing our win arrived in my inbox.

We, uh, our dog, had enough likes to be declared the winner. Our friends had come through.

I still sometimes obsess about my likes on Facebook. I want my friends to like my profound quotes or empathize with my bad news or praise my vacation, my garden, my family, my accomplishments. I like theirs, too.

But this dog contest and how I fixated on it made me think after the fact about the nature of real friendship. We remember it every fall season and laugh. It was funny and fun to win, but it got a little out of hand.

I recently read an article that asked, "Are You a Friend of Jesus?" It pointed out four characteristics of Jesus' friends: they love one another, obey his commandments, understand his truths and are chosen to bear fruit that remains. There is nothing there about clever posts or gorgeous photos or bragging rights. The number of likes or friends or comments amount to, well, not much.

Jesus explains in John 15:12-17, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another."

Jesus appoints us to so much more than we would ever imagine on our own. He does more than send us friend requests or posts to like. And he expects more of us than that. He calls us friends, and then gives us the grace and power to live like his friends. It's about Jesus and abiding in him and his love, and finding rest in this nerve-racking world.