Saying Good-bye

I'm writing this on the plane bound for Thailand (but didn't post it until I'd been in Thailand for a few hours). I've been stamped out of India and the wheels of the plane have left the ground.  If I were to guess we are somewhere over Bangladesh, so we are even out of India air space.

The last few days were enjoyable in the country I have come to love and call home for the 18 months.  Thanks to our planning nature, Julie and I began packing months ago so the last moments were not filled with panic, cramming things in suitcases, deciding what things to leave behind, and wondering how everything was going to get done. We'd done all that weeks ago. 

My last full day was spent eating up the remainder if what was in the cabinet, chatting over pancakes with Julie, one last dish of biryani and naan, and doing a couple of errands.  Our last meal took us full circle.  The first meal we ever ate in our apartment was from a little delivery restaurant up the road and we ordered from there for our last supper as well. 

This morning as I glanced around my empty room and stood gazing at the city out the window drinking my coffee, it hit me.  In a few minutes I was going to leave this flat, this city, and this country.  

I was going to leave, but God isn't.  My work here was complete, but His isn't

After lugging my luggage out to the taxi, Julie and I began our last trip through the city.  As we passed each place along the road, we prayed for the people and ministry we associated with each place.  With tears streaming down our faces, we passed our apartment complex, the family on the street, fellow Workers' homes, our church, our university, the slum, and several other spots along the way, and we thanked God for the opportunity to know each person and pleaded with Him to reveal His truth to them and for them to follow Him and receive His salvation and peace.

I can think of no way more fitting to say good-bye.

God is in this city and He isn't finished working in it.  Although my time on the ground is finished, my role in His work isn't finished and yours isn't either.  We must not forget how these sweet people have touched our hearts and never cease to lift them before the Father.  We keep doing our work and He keeps doing His!