Final Goodbyes

The countdown has begun. The excitement is building. After two years of God leading me and my family to serve Him internationally, selling a house, several volunteer trips to South Asia, 8 weeks of orientation, it has come down to just days away from leaving the U.S.

And the excitement is filled with mixed emotions. I knew that saying goodbye to family would be tough, and it has been. This last week my dad, the one who my son is named after, came to visit me and the kids. It was good to see him and talk with him in person. Also, my uncle came up to visit us this past weekend from Alabama and attend church with me Sunday. It was a great time and so good to see and be with familiar faces. Likewise, my wife has been visiting her family in Montana this past week. She will be saying her final goodbyes today as she comes back to do final packing. It has been harder the closer we get to leaving to say goodbye.

Yesterday at our church, I was worshipping during service, and it started to hit me that this is the last corporate worship I will be in with my church family for years. I found it hard to keep my emotions in while singing in worship. What a great church family and staff God has blessed us to be among. They are so loving and so supportive. Our close friends that we have been around this last 2 weeks are the ones we have been doing life with for the past several years, and it will be hard to say goodbye to them. We have been so blessed to have such great friends who would drop anything at anytime for us, and sometimes they have. They live out their faith by being obedient to laying down their lives for their friends. Greater love is not found anywhere, and we love you all for the sacrifices you have made for us all over the years!!

We then ready ourselves for a long journey, about 24 hours of travel, and obvious culture shock upon arrival for the kids. Our team members, who are the only IMB personnel in the city we are going, and quite possibly the only non-south asians, are quite alone. It will be good to see them and minister and fellowship with them when we get there. They are going to be a huge help to us as we move in. Then we begin to put all the learning we've had into practice. I know that we have a specific job with the IMB for a specific people group in South Asia, but our main job is to be Jesus to the people we come in contact with, to share God's word with those who have never heard of Him. To spread the fame of His name in a place where the enemy has had reign for thousands of years. We will be attacked spiritually more than we have ever been attacked, in ways that we haven't even thought of, but we know that just as God was with Joseph and Job, He is always with us. We can trust in this promise: "The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8