Saying Goodbye

Sitting in the luxury of our hotel room in Dubai it is difficult to summon the emotions we had just one day ago. It's as if the hot showers and breakfast buffet have re-booted our Western wiring and our cravings for comfort have been reborn.

So I've decided to attempt a post about our final moments in Bangalore in an effort to rekindle the embers of change, calling, and purpose that burned with in us for 14 days.

I hope that soon enough the LORD will empower me to post about the rest of our journey. But for now those days are tightly sealed in order that my words and pictures will accurately convey the truth of what was seen. Proverbs 12:18 "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."Our goodbye was short, too short. Esther had slept sitting up in a chair in the main room so she could be sure to see us before our 12:30 a.m. ride swept us away. When our bags had been loaded into the car, Roni nudged her and she awoke with a smile. I held her hand and she asked about the particulars of our flight. Then I told her it was time for us to go. I bent down and wrapped my arms around her frailty, not wanting to ever let go. She turned to my ear, and said "I'll meet you on the other side." She was joy-filled, but I began to weep.

Marty hugged her next and Eshter thanked him for coming to India. She said she was so very very glad about our visit because we had become Trustees of the mission. She said "now I can die with peace that the work will go on because the Mission is in good hands."

I don't know where to go from here. We believed God was calling us to India and still believe that we went in obedience to His voice. But the clarity we were desiring regarding the purpose of our visit has become even muddier that before. All we still know is what I expressed in the post before we left: We believe in the one true God and his son Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins. We are in love with Him, and long to bring him much glory with our lives.

Esther is famous amongst the LMC for a particular speech she delivered at one of the gatherings with all the pastors years ago. When it was her turn to speak, she said that she had a very brief message to deliver so they'd better listen up.

She said, "Jesus came yesterday, He left today, and He's coming tomorrow."

So the message I'm bringing home from India is Esther's messages. Its all about Jesus. The details will be sorted out in eternity.

John 3:16-17 (amp)

"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten unique Son, so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to and relies on Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal, everlasting life.

For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge, to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him."