A Coming Reunion

in Thoughts  by Jinha Kim 0 comments

When my parents immigrated to the USA from South Korea in 1991, I remember the tears of goodbye at the airport between my parents and their friends and family.  They weren’t sure when they would see each other again, but they knew it would be a long time.

And it was.  My family went back to South Korea all together for the first time 19 years later.   I remember my grandmother crying as soon as she saw us as well as throughout the entire week we spent there.

I cannot imagine being separated from my family for so long.  

Before this year, we saw our family at least once a year in the past 8 years while we have been living in Australia. Sometimes, we’d fly to the USA and other times they visited us.  We always had a plan of when we’d see each other again.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has made all travel impossible to plan.  We don’t know when we will be able to hug each other again.

But I find comfort in the fact that technology allows us to connect in ways unimaginable before.  And in the fact that our hope is not just in the elimination of cases and easing of restrictions but also in the permanent advent of freedom and healing:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

For 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. 17 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. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Jesus promises that when He comes again, He will gather us together – those who are still alive and those who have died – from around the world and throughout the generations –  so that we can be together with our Lord forever.

And nothing will separate us again:

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

All the waiting and working, sacrificing and serving will be worth it then.  What a reunion that will be!