A Long Hello

The day after tomorrow, we are scheduled to be on a 6:00 am flight out of my hometown here in the USA to head back to East Asia, our home since 1998.  My little family has been here in the States for 4 months.

What a joy, and what a restful time it's been to be with our family and close friends.  We've been traveling a lot, too.  So, yes, there's some weariness.  But that's really nothing compared to the close fellowship we've had and refreshment we've experienced over long meals, hot cups of coffee, and SEC football games with our loved ones.

God's brought a major winter snowstorm our way today.  I'm stuck with my family at my parents house, along with my wife's parents, and the airport is closed.  We hear from the weather on tv that it's supposed to be cleared up and the airport re-opened by tomorrow around noon.  There is a tiny part of my heart that wants everything to stay shut down for a while, just to have the extra time with my Mom and Dad.

Does anybody really like to say goodbye to people you enjoy being with,  especially when you wont's see them again for a very long time?  Goodbyes are not that fun.

In the early 90's, there was a Christian song out called, "Heaven is a Long Hello".

That will be nice.  What a comforting thought!  What a true perspective on where our eternal home and comfort is.  It's normal right now, on this earth, to have that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, knowing you have to go through another pre-dawn goodbye ritual with your extended family and in-laws, as you head out for that first leg of your long flight back overseas.

But remembering our Creator, and remembering that there will be, indeed, more earthly hellos, as well as one, very long, Heavenly hello, helps us to keep putting one foot in front of the other on our journey with Jesus.