IT ALWAYS HURTS TO SAY GOODBYE

By Rev. Johnny Lee Clary


My father –in-law passed away today and I was thinking about him. He had Alzheimer’s and was in a rest home for the last three years of his life. At first he knew me because I would go with my wife every few days and visit with him. However as my traveling schedule increased, my visits got few and far between. Over the last year whenever I would drop in he didn’t know me. As I was packing and getting ready to go on my 2010 Tour of Australia, I fully intended to go visit him as I have every year before I leave just in case something happens. I always bring him back a ball cap or something, and this year was going to be no different. However, I got so busy with packing, schedules, last minute preparations and being in a hurry to catch the plane I forgot all about going to tell him goodbye and didn’t remember until I was long gone. I remember back in 1995 I was on the road and traveling to a speaking engagement in Mississippi when my grandmother got sick and I fully intended to go see her as soon as I got back home but by then it was too late, as she had went home to be with Jesus.

It always hurts to say goodbye especially when we have to say it to someone we love. It can be very painful to be separated from a loved one. It is never fun to stand at the airport waving goodbye to someone you love or watching as the U-Haul truck pulls away from the curb as people wave goodbye. Although Graduation Day is supposed to be a celebration of achievement, it is also a sad day as students are saying goodbye to friends that have been with them every day for years. It is not unusual to cry when watching a video that shows someone we had to say goodbye to.

Paul was no stranger to the word goodbye. In Acts 20, he met with the spiritual leaders of Ephesus. It hurt him and them that he had to go away and would not see them anymore. Verses 36 and 37 tells how Paul knelt down on the beach with all of them and they prayed together and everyone put their arms around him and kissed him goodbye. The same thing happened at Tyre a few months later, as described in Acts 21:5-6.

It hurts to have to say goodbye to those we care about and love. When one of my mentors, Rev. Wade Watts, who was also my close friend passed away, I remember patting him on the shoulder as he lay in his coffin and said, “This is not goodbye, it is just so long for right now. I will see you again.” As Christians we can take comfort in knowing that if the person departing was also a Christian then we don’t have to say goodbye. All we have to say is “so long” for right now because we will see them again when we all get to Heaven and what a day of rejoicing that will be!

In Revelations 21:1 John was describing the New Jerusalem and was excited that the sea was gone. Why was he so excited about that? Well you see he had written the book of Revelation while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. The sea was what separated him from the people that he loved. In Heaven there is no sea and no separation, therefore we will never have to say goodbye to loved ones again!

I am looking forward to seeing my father-in-law, Mr. Bob Edwards again. Next time I see him, he will not have Alzheimer’s either and will be in his glorified body. I will see Rev. Wade Watts who will have both of his legs and be cancer-free! I will see my grandmother who will be in her glorified body and will be able to hear me without her hearing aids! My wife is sad that her father has gone on in one way, but she is happy in another way because she knows his suffering his over and he is enjoying himself now. Right before he passed away, my mother-in-law was by his side and was patting him and telling him, “It’s Ok, you can go home to be with Jesus now. I’ll be Ok.” Right after she said that he took his last earthly breath and went home. My wife had been praying that same thing over him for the last several days because she knew it was time for him to go be with the Lord.

That is the difference between the non-believer and the Christian. If someone is not a Christian they have no chance of ever seeing those they love again. A Christian does however. If you are a Christian look forward to the day when you will never have to be separated from people you love ever again!