Pain of Departure

by Joe Thorn on August 3, 2005


I had the chance to hang out with old friends tonight. Tim and Niki are in town from California, so he arranged a little get-together to catch up. You may remember Tim, the long haired Presbyterian who rides a motorcycle. Brett is an old buddy who went to Moody with some of us, and now lives north of Rockford. I’ve known Chris since we were in elementary school. He was the first guy I ever saw reading the Bible, and one of the first to share Christ with me. Chris is now a teacher at Grace. Jason, like the rest, goes way back with some of the guys. He and his wife Winona were missionaries in Jordon before returning to the US and joining Grace. Jason is one of our elders.

It was nice sitting together, talking, sharing the good and the ugly parts of our lives. I wish we had more time together because saying goodbye is always hard. It reminded me of an entry in George Whitefield’s journal. Before he left London for the first time, he gathered some friends together to hang out and pray. Leaving them was hard for the young preacher who was heading to America. But his thoughts didn’t linger on his own temporal loss. He wrote, “If parting from a few earthly friends for a season be so grievous, how will the wicked bear to be parted from God and good men for all eternity!”

Part of the terror of hell is isolation from “God and good men,” and part of the blessings of heaven is the community of God and good men. It makes me want to make the most of the friendships I have, while seeking to help others find that community while they can.

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • Pat A.

    Now here is one of those times where having the bad night shift would not have been so bad. While it was great to see Tim & Niki this past Sunday, at least I didn’t have the chance to say “Good-bye”. I avoided it by have a children’s ministry meeting.

    Joe,
    Are we getting together friday? Call, e-mail, something.

  • Pat A.

    Joe from this picture, what is that on your face???? It’s ALMOST a smile. The good news is I believe that Tim got his smiling abilities from you. :-)

  • http://www.xanga.com/wantedtobethebigsurprise Vicki

    I KNEW I had seen him somewhere before. Of course, it was your blog.

  • Laurie

    Funny — the older I get the more I realize that heaven (and therefore, hell, too) is real. Not just some idea that I believe in, but a reality that, in many ways, will be seen to be even more “real” than this earth is. These “realizations” make me hunger and long for it, for sure, but it also makes me see this earthly life very differently. Like George W. (um, Whitefield, not the Pres.), I find myself looking at the things we endure, experience and enjoy here with eyes that are really looking toward something else. It makes this life seem almost pale in comparison — almost surreal. Having a more and more realistic view of eternity (as much as one is able to do in this “other” world) changes the sights and sounds and tastes and trials of this world. It dwarfs them — puts them into a different perspective. Not that the painful things don’t hurt or the joyful things aren’t, well, joyful — but they are somehow fitted into their right size when they are placed even mentally next to heaven.

    Interesting.

    Keep the old friends, guys — they really are like gold — they’re precious and they never loose their value!
    Blessings,
    Laurie

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Good words Laurie.

  • Jeff T

    If I could have hair like Tim, I might become a Presbyterian.

    Jeff

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    I used to have hair like that. Alas, God wants me bald.

  • http://www.stevekmccoy.com/ Steve McCoy

    Man, I love that pic.

  • JM

    your perm picture is one of my earliest memories of your blog. I had forgotten about it. I’m glad I am to young to have gone through the big hair and mullet phases. I did have a “rat tail” for about a week once, when I was 8. No pictures for my kids to make fun of( at least that’s what I think now, I’m sure they will find some way to mock my utter coolness one of these days)

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