There are two different types of goodbye. Two different ways to say goodbye and two different emotions felt when said.
When I was 17, my parents and younger brother dropped me off at college 600 miles away from home. I stood by the road, watching my family’s familiar tail lights drive away as I waved goodbye. It was a strange, unstable feeling to be sure. Full of the mysterious unknown. What happens next!? I feared having made a huge mistake. I feared the uncertain future. I had to keep moving, keep working, but with my sights set firmly on the inevitable hope called Fall Break. I would indeed go home. I would indeed see my family again.
Sadly, history is full of instances when children were shipped off to new opportunities and new lives with absolutely no means, no plan and no hope for any kind of reunion. The parents remained in the old country and bitter tears were shed full of grief at such a painful parting.
In Paul’s first letter to the Believers in Thessalonica, he encourages us by reminding them that when we lose loved ones, we grieve differently than other people. Our goodbye is different than their goodbye. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. So too, we cling to the hope of our own resurrection, reunion and restoration to those we so dearly miss.
For those who trust in Jesus, our goodbyes are never forever. There is always, on the horizon, an event to look forward to. We will see them again, because death is not the end of the road.
