Airport Reunions

Have you ever noticed the emotions exhibited at an airport? I was in one recently and couldn’t help but notice the different people. There’s usually a level of the terminal for departures, and you notice the people who are being dropped off. There’s often hugs and tears and kisses as the person reluctantly picks up their luggage and walks through the door. But then there’s the level just outside of the baggage claim, where you also discover hugs and tears and kisses. But these look really different and are for completely different reasons. These are tears of joy as families and friends are reunited after a painful absence.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. This may be true. But I also can’t wait for the day when goodbye isn’t in our vocabulary and a joyful reunion is simply a distant memory. And that day will be when the greatest reunion of all will take place. There’s a song sung by the Gaither Vocal Band where the second verse opens with: “You left a group of fishermen / Somehow you left me too.” We may not have had the privilege of walking and talking with Jesus while He was on earth, but we miss Him just the same. And someday soon, the eastern sky will burst open and “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). We will be reunited, never more to part. Don’t you look forward to that day?