For Saying Goodbye
Used with permission from Liturgies and Laments for the Sojourner: Volume 2 Father, I need You, for today holds yet more grief, more loss, more goodbyes, and although I hope we should meet and embrace again, my heart is heavy with sorrow as I think of the days ahead without the ones I love. Jesus, […]
Goodbyes are Awful
I was ten years old for my first, genuine goodbye. Our church prayed for us before we left for our initial move to Mongolia. I sobbed on the sanctuary steps and when we walked out to our car, my best friend sobbed with me, begging me for one more hug before we drove away. I […]
Inner Endings
In a crisp July breeze off the North Atlantic Ocean, I stood shaking, watching our beautiful daughter walk toward the arbor she and her dad crafted for her wedding day. A month later on a balmy Houston day our son beckoned with his eyes his bride to the altar. Then a short few months after […]
Countdown to Goodbye
Over eight years ago a young family packed their things, shipped them off, and flew to a small island in the south Caribbean. This sweet couple now pastor a growing church of international students, expats, and locals. Their two small children have grown up eating more mangos than strawberries, and seeing more monkeys than squirrels. […]
Goodbye, for Now and for Good
We’re in a bit of precarious place right now, a place well known to many cross-cultural workers. Our future in our current country is very uncertain, just as we finish our first term and head back for our first home assignment. The questions swirl in my mind, in my heart. Could we really have spent […]
This Week’s Theme: Goodbye
Your suitcases are organized and weighed carefully. Lists are checked off and all your favorite places have been visited one last time. You’re ready to go. These months in the middle of the year are often full of transition. You might be saying “Goodbye” as you start a new adventure in a brand-new country. Or, […]
In Which I am a Pair o’ Ducks
I reach over and take a sip of Coke. Immediately I erupt with an embarrassingly loud burp. My stomach is that jittery. Pure exhilaration and absolute heartbreak sit mixed in my gut. I am on my way to the airport as a freshly turned 18-year-old, about to leave everything and everyone I know for a foreign country. I would blush […]
Dancing the Footsteps of the Long Goodbye
We just did that thing again. That thing where you wave at your dad from behind the glass, shoes off and boarding pass out. One or two children huddle around you, throwing backpacks onto conveyor belts and walking back and forth through the metal detector. Your husband waits for you on the other side, while […]