I want to take a journey.

There's an ice-breaker question that I've been asked, and have since asked others:

If you could be a superhero, what powers would you have? What would be your fatal flaw?

For a long time now, my answer has been this: My power would be that I could go anywhere in the world that I wanted to at any moment that I wished-- but my fatal flaw would be that I could only go once.


Sometimes I feel like that happens already. Lately I've been reconnecting with some friends from around the world-- friends who live in Slovakia, Florida, California, Scotland, Taiwan--just to name a few. I long to be together with them again; to go out for coffee, to talk, to hug them and let them know that they are still so close to my heart.

I wish I had the time and money to take a trip around the world to do this. Not only would it be a grand adventure, but I would make sure to visit every person who I've come to know, wherever they are. But reality bites: I would have to leave them again. Not to mention that I would inevitably meet more people along the way, and my list of folks to visit would never end.

This must be what Paul felt like. No wonder so many of his letters take time to express how much he misses that particular church, and to send his greetings to certain people. I can only imagine how badly he wanted to travel just to revisit old friends, setting aside all ministerial motivations aside. It aches. It hurts.

The real estate in my heart reserved for the friends around the world stretches as far as the eye can see.

And yet, I'm blessed. I'm fortunate for things like email and Facebook to keep tabs on certain folks and keep their memory fresh. It's nice to know that they're thinking of me and to share prayer requests.

When we all get to Heaven, I can hardly wait to embrace those folks again and spend part of eternity hearing about their lives and what God has done. I remember first realizing the implications of Heaven and the reunion I can anticipate there. I was on the shore of Lake Yellowstone, near the end of the summer of 2006, watching the afternoon fade into evening. As I looked around at the faces I'd come to know and love, faces of people that shined radiantly in the Love of Christ, I ached knowing I might not see them again on this side of Heaven. But Heaven! Heaven! What a beautiful hope. In Christ, there is no goodbye.

Hallelujah!


betsy joy




Just a few of those I love who are now around the world...