Last Thoughts From the Midwest

It's the last night in our house. Tomorrow night we will stay at a hotel near the airport, to be ready for our flight Friday morning. The guys have just finished shooting off a bunch of fireworks in the cul-de-sac, Madelyn has gone home with her friend Emma for a sleep over, Gwen is almost asleep in her beloved "cribby", as she calls it, and I am ignoring the mess of stuff in our bedroom that needs to be packed into our luggage.

I feel like I should write something profound. I don't think I have anything profound to say.

Our small group friends had a wonderful good-bye picnic for us today. We all hung out together for hours, with the kids swimming in a little pool in the backyard, and ate hot dogs and watermelon and potato salad, and chatted and laughed and prayed and took pictures of the kids. We love these people. They have been our family here.

It's hard to say good-bye. I'd rather say "see you later".

I had a friend in Pittsburgh, where we lived for five years many moons ago. She was a very close friend... we shared having our first babies, the first years of our marriages, prayer times, Salvation Army treasure hunting shopping trips. We spent many hours helping them work on their house. We attended the same start-up church together that met in a junior high and then as it grew, in a high school. I even nursed her baby several times, when her first child had a medical emergency and they were in the hospital with her overnight.

Almost ten years have passed since we've moved away from each other, and we've essentially lost touch. We send Christmas cards, but we're no longer a part of each other's lives.

I was telling my dear friend Sara Jane about this lost friendship tonight. It doesn't seem like the right thing to say to a dear friend that you are about to move far away from and will miss terribly. The reason I told Sara Jane was not because I intend to lose touch with her, definitely not. If nothing else, we're both bloggers, so we will always know where to find each other if too much time passes between phone calls. But the reason I told her about the lost friendship is that the friendship from Pittsburgh isn't really lost. It's over for now, but I know that my long ago friend believes with me that Heaven is our eternal home, the place that Jesus went to prepare for all who confess Him as Lord, who believe in Him and love Him.

So the good-byes are temporary. This life isn't the end. It is merely a stopping over point, a mist and a vapor. It's just a taste. Heaven is the real thing... eternal life, where old friends will meet again, and where we won't ever have to say good-bye.

Maybe it isn't profound. But it's true. It's important.

Be there, won't you all? I want to be with you forever!
Love, Lynne