To Meet Once More

I am a natural pack-rat, saving each and every item that I "might need" later on. Recently I was going through my letter collection in an effort to free up some more closet space. Opening the box, I began wading through mementos dating all the way back to my eighth birthday. This was my second time through the box and I was having a lot more success. Envelopes, cards that only had the sender's signature in them, and old subscription offers from Plane & Pilot magazine - all found themselves in the waste basket.

As I opened one particular christmassy card, I noticed the signature on the bottom. The card was from my first boss, a kind lady who had offered my friend and I a job after seeing our ad for trash hauling. Starting when I was about eleven, my Stephan and I weeded her yard, took out her trash, and made fresh vegetable juice each morning. She was always fond of us and though we were paid by the hour, she never failed to through in a bonus at the end of each week.

Then her visits to Rhode Island grew longer and finally I found out she was leaving for good. My boss was dying of cancer. One last stay and then she left, this time taking her cat. Several months later she died.

As I glanced over the card, remembering the fun times Stephan and I had working for our boss, the first sentence in the message jumped out at me. Hope to see you again quite soon! The words, written to let me know she was coming to visit, suddenly took on a deeper meaning. Jesus is coming soon. Sin and suffering don’t have much time left to do their damage and soon Christ will return. We will be reunited with loved ones and friends and this time it will be for good.

In that moment, the greatest event in the universe’s history seemed so near. God wants us to remember that our time here is really short. His words blend with my boss’s words as they echo the hope-filled reassurance, Hope to see you again quite soon!