Missing Friends

I said good-bye to some teammates this last week. Good-bye's are hard, we all know that. Missionary life with its high mobility involves tons of good-bye's... also old news. So there's not really much for me to say here, except to affirm that I'm glad for friends who make the good-bye's difficult.

For the three young girls I was privileged to teach these last couple years.

For their mother, who leaves a gaping hole in our ladies' Bible study group.

For their father, one of my primary sports-watching buddies.

As I tried to communicate to my remaining students, we're sad for a reason. Friends matter. The sadness validates the friendship. (No I did not use the word "validate" with 7-year-olds. I don't remember what I said; I just hope they understood--my throat was tight at the time.)

Partings remind us of our Hope of spending eternity (together) in Jesus' kingdom. It occurs to me that eternity is really long... probably even long enough for little things like soccer games. :)