I want to get into stories and lessons first this time. The prayer developments and requests and developments will be at the bottom of this post. Just scroll on down if you want to skip this stuff.
It's done, it's finished. My third year of college is complete. Only one more semester to go. Who knew it would go by so quickly or seem so slow while in the midst of it.
A life of ministry is a life of goodbyes...It certainly is. Those in ministry often led in new directions, and those being ministered to are just as often as well. It happens as one grows, learns new things, is revealed new things, and etceteras. As Donald Miller rightly notes, there is no bullet point list to figure out life lessons. Life happens and God is in the midst of it, and you grow and you learn and you are moved and you move and in all that there are goodbyes.
I imagine Paul knew this very well, as did all the apostles. John's brother was martyred, and puts a whole knew depth to the brotherly love language John employs in his letters. They were called the Sons of Thunder. You and your brother only get a duo name if you are tight, always by each other's side, always together, and passionate, and his brother was martyred for the fame and popularity of an evil king.
Peter stayed in Jerusalem, but many of the apostles and others were martyred (Ex: Stephen) or called to other locations. Tradition says Thomas went east toward India and John went to Ephesus to name only two of the ten others.
Paul was all over the Mediterranean and Israel. He spent a year and a half to two years in Corinth before leaving. His two letters to that church reveal how emotional his departure must have been. He wept with the elders of Ephesus upon his departure, a vivid picture of the bond of brothers in Christ.
In all times and places of life, a decision also demands sacrifice. We are not omnipresent; we are not even dipresent (present in only two places). While at school I cannot be home with family and other friends. While at home I cannot be with friends from school. While in the Czech, well, you get the idea. As excited as I am for this summer, I also remember the good times had at school and at home, with people here and there, and consider what good times may have been had with them had I chosen to stay and not go to the Czech.
But this is only half, if even that. A life of ministry is a life of hellos and reunions and surprises and eternity. Leaving home and going to school...a whole new world of people and relationships. Returning home from school...fun and joyous and blessed reunions. Going back to the school...quite similar. Going to the Czech for the first time... Returning to the Czech...
These are all part of the great picture. The goodbyes point us to Christ and his salvation and eternal glory with him and those I have said goodbye to, remembering that no matter how long or short the time we get to spend together here, eternity is a long, long time. The new hellos do the same. Meeting a fellow brother or sister in righteousness for the first time... There is something special about meeting someone and realizing you will be eternity together, praising the king, realizing they have been doing the same thing you've been doing a world away. We are indeed united in Spirit.
And those blessed reunions! Do we have anything that compares to such feeling, a catalyst of joy within us? You know what I am talking about. That person, that friend, your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your spouse...reunited after a time of separation... Is there anything like that first hug? Is there anything like that first smile at the sight of them? And this is only a shadow of what is to come. We have been separated from our Father since the Fall, and Christ came to us 2000 years ago, and has brought us back into a right relationship with God that brings Him glory, and we wait. We are in his presence, but the time will come when we are brought bodily into his throne room. What a reunion that will be! Will there be anything like that first smile when we see him as he is, face to face? No, there isn't, for this is what the deepest longing of every human heart is, foreshadowed by the many reunions we are blessed with in this life.
Come to Jesus! Are in a right relationship with God that brings him glory? Are your goodbyes blessed with the peace of eternity? Are your hellos blessed with the hope of great things to come? Are your reunions blessed with knowledge that the greatest reunion is on its way?
God has put eternity into the heart of every person, an eternity with Him. Sin has separated us from God, has broken the relationship he desired to have with us. We became enemies of the living God, the God who loves us, and He sent his Son to live the life we could never live, to die the death we deserve, to take the punishment and wrath we willingly brought on ourselves, and rose from the dead in triumph over sin, death, and Satan...that we may be with Him. Have you believed this? You need to. Believe it! It is the truth. It will set you free. Set you free of the bondage of sin. Set you free of the meaningless and selfishness of this life into the joy filled life of glorifying God, your creator who gave his life that you may have a full one, an eternal fulfilled life. And if you already believe, if you are already one of His, this is your cornerstone. This is who chose you, and He has sealed you unto eternity, to be with Him forever and to tell others until that time this message, this message of salvation and hope, of relationship and peace with our Lord and Savior Jesus, the anointed one of God.
My prayer request is that you dwell on this truth. That you dwell on the reality of your salvation, and if you have not yet believed, that you talk to Jesus for the first time, recognizing that he has saved you and enjoy your first prayer with he who saved you.
For the sake of Christ, that many may come to salvation...Amen.
