Departure: December 29, 2008

            Saying goodbye never gets easier. The funny thing is that, the people we really care about we will never say "goodbye" to them. We may have to part ways for a time, a moment, but we will always find our way back to the people that mean the most to us. Maybe we won't be able to be in the same room as them and see them face to face, but we never really say goodbye to the people who we will take along with us on the journey of our lives. 

            If we can look at life as a novel, then we will see that people help create each chapter, but not every character in a book has a lasting role to the end. Though their presence had been unreplaceable, and without them life would not have been what it is, they come and go like the seasons. Then there are the people who come in and out of your life; who appear, disappear and reappear. But, if we're blessed, there are the people who are a constant. And those who are constants are like the nourishment of your spirit. Without them life would be empty.

            I've been saying goodbye to a lot of people. And I've realized that saying goodbye never gets any easier. So, I've been trying to figure out why. And I now realize that there is a dysfunction in my thinking. The people who it is hardest to say goodbye to are the people that will always be a part of my life. The people I love are the people that will be the hardest to leave but will be the one's who I can count on. So, it's not saying goodbye that's the hard part its the saying "I'll see you later" that hurts the most. Goodbyes come because they're supposed to. The see-you-laters come when the please. But, I’ll take comfort in knowing that if “I’ll see you later” then I won’t be saying “goodbye.”

            That being said, how much more important is ministry to me, now knowing how I feel about “goodbyes?” There are people dear to me that I couldn’t bear the idea of saying goodbye to and, in reflection, I have not pursued them for the Lord; or I have pursued them but they are not receptive. If all of this is the case wouldn’t my life be full-time ministry? Wouldn’t I be chasing the ones I love like their life depended on it? Well I’m not perfect and can only strive for that so, my life will be the desire to be in constant pursuit for the furtherance of the Kingdom, and that desire put into action by the grace of God.