By the time I publish this I’ll have arrived in Florida. However, I’m curently typing this as I fly over the Pacific Ocean with approximelty three hours remaining until we arive at our first stop in Dallas.

Emotions Running High

The past 48 hours have seen our emotions run high. We’ve hugged and cried as we said “goodbye” to family, friends, and the community of people in our local church. It was especially difficult farewelling more senior members of our family and seeing in their eyes the suspicion that this may well be the last time—in this life—that we see each other. We also had “goodbyes” that were cut short due to needing to board our plane.

The Body of Christ is Family

Our local church prepared my family a “goodbye” book. The pages were filled with photos, written memories, Scriptures verses, tips, and Aussie slang we were forbidden from forgetting. As I read it on the plane I smiled remembering the good times we spent together, the worship and fellowship we enjoyed together, and the laughs I had with so many over coffee or a meal. I cried as I discovered—in some cases for the first time—just how much my family had meant to them. There were words written that encouraged me in God’s faithfulness during that moment in the air when I questioned the decision we’d made as a family to leave our home soil.

Reading the impact my family had on the lives of others and recalling their impact on ours, made clear to me the point that we were never simply isolated members of a group of people who happened to gather weekly around a common cause. No, we were—and still are—members of the body of Christ..and the body of Christ is a family.

From One Family To Another

This knowledge, that the body of Christ is a family, eases the emotions of the past 48 hours. Yes, we have said “goodbye” to our physical family and our local spiritual family, but there is a real sense in which we are moments away from saying “hello” to family too—brothers and sisters at Ligonier, in the churches we’ll visit, and the many of you whom we’ll share a coffee with over the coming months.

I must stop typing now as breakfast is about to be served on the plane and I’ve not had enough sleep either. Thank you for all your prayers and encouraging (and humorous) comments on the blog over the past week.

Update: Yes, we arrived safely in Orlando, FL.