The Last Two Months

The last two months have been full of activity--the busiest one being a move from one mission house to another. The church who so graciously allowed us to live in their mission house now needs it for a prospective church planter who will help reach the unchurched people in the neighborhood and show them the way to Eternal Life. Another church about 10 miles away has offered us shelter for a time.

The last two months have been full of activity---the most important one being traveling back and forth to SC to spend time with Dad as he draws closer to the time he leaves here. It has been interesting to watch ourselves try to continue our responsibilities as usual with the underlying sadness of having to say goodbye to a loved one. We have tried to reframe the situation by recognizing that Dad may very well celebrate the incoming New Year in the presence of Jesus Himself but the sadness continues.

No matter how well we know that our loved one is securely in God’s hands, that He will guide them Home and that He will watch over them until we are one day reunited, the sadness continues.

There is a very simple reason for that. We weren’t designed to ever have to say goodbye. We weren’t designed to die. God created us to live forever and ever in His presence. Unfortunately things went awry in the garden of Eden and our punishment was death. How horrible it would be if that were the end of the story!

A couple of thousand years ago, a very important thing happened at a very busy time when people were travelling because of a census. Jesus was born in Bethlehem--God’s own son. He was sent to settle the account once and for all. We can now live forever if we accept the gift of Jesus’ payment on our behalf. We can now have an underlying peace that we will once again see our loved ones who know the Lord and go before us.

I told my Dad I’d see him in Heaven…but it’s still sad.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” John 11:25-26