Family Reunion

Our recent trip to Puerto Rico was just what Ana and I needed. The previous year had been incredibly busy, with a lot of stresses and challenges, so when we realized I was going to have a month off before I started my new job, we decided this would be a great chance to go to Puerto Rico, see Ana’s family, many of whom we hadn’t seen in more than a decade, and get some much needed rest.

The first week in Puerto Rico, we stayed with her brother Manny while visiting other family who lived nearby. We had a wonderful time eating all the foods Ana misses from her childhood, staying up late talking, and tromping around the family farm where Ana was born. It was so wonderful to see the joy on Ana’s face and the faces of her brothers and sisters at finally being back together after so long.

That joy, however, was tempered somewhat by the knowledge we’d have to say good-bye again far too soon. Also, not everyone was there. Her parents and 2 brothers died years ago and other siblings are scattered across the mainland. Our reunion was incomplete.

That won’t be the case when Jesus comes again. That will be the best family reunion ever, because it will never end. On that wonderful day “the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16 NIV).

Forever! Doesn’t that have a wonderful ring to it? No more visiting each other for a couple days or even a couple weeks, then never getting together again for years. No more tearful good-byes or sad “see you laters.” No more funerals. No more broken hearts or long separations. No, “we will be with the Lord (and each other) forever.” (v. 17)

If you’re missing someone right now, I hope these verses give you hope. A great Family Reunion is coming when “The Sovereign Lord will wipe the tears from all faces.” (Isaiah 25:8). So, until then, hold on, trust in the Lord and, most importantly, remember to “encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).