Leaving

The weather was very cold last night, but not as cold as the poor folks in the northeast. We have yet to face sub-zero temperatures, though it seemed pretty cold. Tomorrow, we expecting rain and thunderstorms (70% chance).

I called Charlene at the park office today and reserved the site I’m in for the month of February. Since there is some business that needs to be handled here, I’m going to stay here until it’s done.

After all, I do not have to leave at any special time. And speaking of leaving, the writing prompt for today was “Write about leaving…”

It seems throughout our lives we have no choice but to leave people or things or places we love. Occasionally, people leave us, sometimes by choice and sometimes not. That, I think, is the hardest, at least for those left behind.

On the other hand, there are occasions when leaving is a good thing: leaving for college, leaving your current job for a better one, leaving the cold for the warm, leaving a dangerous relationship.

Imagine what the world would be like if no one ever left -- any thing, any place or anybody --for even the shortest period of time. Commerce and progress would come to a halt. We would all starve to death in short order. For progress to take place, we must be active. We must leave our houses to go to work, to shop, to visit friends.

The ultimate leaving is, of course, dying. In this instance, the person leaving does not come back… ever. In most cases, the person leaving has no choice. But, one must ask if dying is really leaving. Sure, it’s leaving this world, this earth, this culture, this life, but if is not our choice, then is it really leaving or is the person just removed. Doesn’t leaving assume intent to go somewhere else?

But then, I don’t believe that if a person dies, he will never come back. And I believe that for many dying is a blessing. It means leaving this life of pain and misery and going to a better place. After all, we have a Savior who died that we might live. He offered Himself up for us that we might know that when we leave, we go to a better place, one where there are no tears or sorrow, one where there is no grief or pain, one where we can be in fellowship with those who have left us and are with our risen Lord.

I also know that those whom Jesus has saved will come with Him when He comes at the sound of the trumpet. The Bible says in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NLT):

¹³ And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died^[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

¹⁵ We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.^{[g] 16} For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died^[h] will rise from their graves. ¹⁷ Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words.

I hope you have been encouraged by these words and that they gave you something to think about. Leaving isn’t necessarily a bad thing or a good thing, it’s just reality.

Until next time…