Dedicated to all my far away friends
The past couple of years, everything I have been involved in has been relatively short-lived. People come from all over for a time, and then scatter when the summer or semester is finished. This has left me with friends spread all around the U.S. Friends that I miss and wish I could see more frequently. It’s a challenge to stay intentional and connect with each of their lives. I send and receive messages with “I miss you” much more often then I’d like. I’ve found myself craving a time when we could all just be together like a little village. One of my dreams is to have all the people closest to me living in the same place and working together.
Going on the World Race and sharing life with 45+ people, only to split ways when it is over, makes my head spin. I tried to justify making all these new relationships that I will surely miss when it is all over, as well as all the relationships I have left behind for a year on the Race.
It was then that the Lord showed me what my heart was actually craving. It’s been craving eternity. A time when everyone I know and love can be together and work for the same goal… praising God.
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
We were made to crave heaven. It’s a part of our nature to love and miss people, but our time here is valuable and purposeful, and should not be wished away. Why? Because not everyone is a part of the Kingdom yet. There are some people who we know and love that wouldn’t be with us in eternity if this life ended today. Our neighbor, or our cousin, or the woman in the next cubical may not know the Savior or the promise of eternity that comes from becoming a child of the King. The opportunity to share the Good News is what will make missing my friend and family during the race worth it.
This year can be a time to grow the Kingdom if we take the plunge into sharing the Good News. All of us can use this year to reach out to those we know to make certain that when the line of eternity is drawn, we will never again have to miss them.
