Longing to See Each Other

In my reading today in I Thessalonians 2:17, I understood Paul's heart when he says, "We were all the more eager with great desire, to see your face." Paul has to send Timothy ahead to find out about them because of his longing to know how they were doing. There is a certain angst of heart for me to see and be with precious fellow believers in southwest Nebraska.

The love of a pastor for his people is captured as well in an episode in the life of Jonathan Edwards, arguably America's greatest theologian. A controversy arose at the church he pastored in North Hampton, Massachusetts. Of the 230 male members who could vote, a mere 23 voted to retain Edwards as pastor. Edwards maintained a calmness of soul for two reasons: First, the God whom Edwards loved and adored was a solemn Ruler in all human affairs. As Edwards notes, "We are in the hands of God and I bless Him." Second, Edwards genuinely loved his people, and though it was a difficult time in his life, he stated that "I am not anxious concerning God's disposal of us." So then, the longing and love between Paul and the Thessalonians, and Edwards and his congregation, is mirrored in my own longing to see the face of fellow believers in southwest Nebraska. When the loving and the longing is great, how sweet and pleasant must be the reuniting. (Though Edwards was dismissed, it was God's way in moving him to minister as a missionary to 250 Mohican and 60 Mohawk Indians.)

We have now reached the half-way point in radiation oncology, so our focus is now that it is downhill from here! We are counting the days until we are home, face to face.