The other day as I had my quiet time, I asked the Lord to randomly select a passage of scripture for me...I needed a word of encouragement from Him. I opened my Bible to Acts 21. Oh my goodness, this won't do; this is the middle of the narrative of Paul's third missionary journey. I said to myself, "I don't need a narrative; why didn't I turn to a meaty exhortations in one of Paul's epistles instead?" But then I looked at the first verse of the first chapter that started on the page.
Now, if you know the Achgill clan, then you know that we are familiar with saying goodbyes. Our oldest daughter, Amy, has spent extensive time overseas, and we have a daugther, Kaye, son-in-"love", Scott, and granddaughter, Gracie, who live in Florida. Closer, but still not here in town, we have daughter, Mary, son-in-"love", Matt, and granddaughter, Chloe, located in San Antonio.
Now, within the next 2-3 months, we say goodbye to our daughter, Sally, son-in-"love", Jon, and our first grandson, Jude. They are heading out to work overseas for 2-3 years (or longer). What makes it even harder is that they have lived with us for the past 7 months. By the time they leave, saying goodbye to our sweet little guy will be a real heart-breaker.
One of our son-in-laws sometimes teases us about being together "one last time", and for our tearful, long, drawn out prayers and goodbyes. Lately, I have begun to feel a little embarrassed and self-conscious about all our tears, but after reading this passage, I now think it's just fine. What's good enough for Paul is good enough for our girls.
As I read Acts 21:1, my heart was stirred. Then I looked at the verses before it and was even more moved. Here's what the verses say starting in Acts 20:36:
"(20:36)When he (Paul) had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him...
(21:1) After we had TORN ourselves away from them, we put out to sea..."
(emphasis added)
Paul had to tear himself away from his friends. Even he had a hard time leaving his brothers and sisters in Christ, and they had a hard time saying goodbye to him, too. Their heartfelt, emotional farewell was ok.
So, next time, as we stand in a circle beseeching the Father for His hand of protection, provision and strength for our beloveds, noses dripping and sniffling, eyes red and swollen, hands clasped together and arms around shoulders, we'll know we are in good company. We have the example of the apostle Paul himself. Besides, he tells several times in his epistles to "follow my example".
So that, we shall do.
Thank You, Lord, for a terrific time.
