The Q’s are coming home for a year of fund-raising for ERSU seminary. We’ll be living in Jackson, MS, and we are available for many mission events. We look forward to seeing you as we travel!
However, we will also be missing our brothers and sisters, students and colleagues in Ukraine. This is what we call being “glocal” – both global and local – and it hurts! We are indeed blessed by so many friends around the world, but the limitations of our locality are only partially dissipated by email, video calls, and social media. The reality is that no one can be in two places at one time! – No one except the Holy Spirit!
It is a blessing to know God is the same, wherever we are, and that he is with our distant family and friends, binding us together in Christ. My grandfather held family prayer every night, and he used to tell me he would “meet me at the Throne”. This is our great comfort, that we enjoy unity in Christ, unity even with my grandfather, who is now with his Savior.
I recently heard a long interview with my grandfather, recorded in 1987, where he told the story of his life and faith. It was just like a visit with him. But it was incredibly bittersweet. I also felt the distance in time and space from him, from family, from believers we left in Portugal, from fellow missionaries, and from supporting churches and friends. We are simultaneously linked in unity – yet often separated in space, and sometimes separated by death! Yet, the hope of eternity is our comfort.