Saying goodbye is something many people try to avoid. Leaving is not easy, especially when it is unexpected. It isn’t much easier even it is planned. Just the other day I was driving through Kandern and saw a couple I hadn’t talked with for quite a while, and I wondered how they were doing. Imagine my surprise when just 2 days later I read on Instagram a post from them saying they had just crossed the Belgium border and were almost home, having left Kandern that morning. After 8 years, they had left. It seemed like this was planned (there was a job lined up, for example, according to the post), and they were glad for their time here. But what a surprise!
We feel transition is something we specialize in. Not just because we’ve done alot of it. But because we treat it seriously. We see it coming, a change, and prepare. Now, in that sense we have been fortunate. Even when Shane’s parents passed away it was not unexpected. But not just their actual death, but their leaving. When someone has left, there aren’t opportunities to say things, to talk about something, to look into their eyes and just be there with them. With my parents, in great part to the part of the world to where I first left, we also made sure to make our goodbyes a good one. We talked, we spoke, we just spent time with each other, because as my mother would say, “You never know what’s going to happen in the intervening 2 or 3 years.” So in a sense, we’d been saying goodbye for 2 decades, continuing with Liberty and then Van; we also made our goodbyes good. So when they really did pass away, we already had closure (if that is the right word). We had said what we needed, we had spoken about what needed to be covered, we spent time with each other. Even Liberty and Van know the next time we see them it will be in heaven with Jesus. Now, that is a good thing to think about!
You may be here because of a recent email. We are facing a potential goodbye. It’s an interesting one because it may not just be to a place and a ministry, but to an entire way of life. Like many other overseas workers we’ve seen, our financial income has simply dropped low enough that remaining overseas isn’t possible. And, remaining in volunteer ministry is also in question… we need to pay the bills! This means a paid position. So, the goodbye that we are keeping an eye on as it’s on the horizon is a big one.
I hope we are ready, either way.
