I remember years ago, when I was a pastor, visiting someone in the hospital. They were members of our church. There was a steady stream of visitors from the church to see them- as many as 20 every day. The room was a double occupancy room. Behind a drawn curtain, lay a man who, day after day, listened to the conversations and quietly observed the flood of visitors to see his roommate. One day he said, I have been here for two weeks and have had no visitors, only a few visits from your church people. I really enjoy seeing all of you come in. It is like you are part of a big family. My family lives far away from here, that’s why I’ve had no visitors. I explained the relationship between this whole group was a different kind of family- one that is often closer than the biological kind of family. That day, I had opportunity to invite him to be part of the family and he quickly responded to the good news.
While I’ve been in the hospital over the past month, we have been flooded with marvelous family contact- visitors, letters, emails, phone calls and cards. The words are nice. But, anyone can share nice words. The lives behind the words, the depth of prayer, the level of empathy, the intensity of emotion, the linking of the Spirit, the shared understanding of healing and eternity, the sense of familiarity in spite of having never met many of these comforters makes it remarkably different than mere words can accomplish. This is a family that is joined by an understanding of our human frailty and sin and salvation; connected by a shared hope that is based upon an experience of a loving and healing God. This is a family that expresses a deep love that can only be expressed by those who have received a deep love from a loving God.
I love family time. Some friends of ours had a family exprience years ago as they were trying to spend time with their family. They told their young son that they were going to the lake for "family bonding" which would preclude him from spending time with his friends for the weekend. He forgot the term and told his friends innocently, "I can’t play this weekend because my family wants us to be together for ‘family bondage’ time." For some, family connections are binding rather than liberating. For us, all of our family experiences have been uplifting, comforting and filled with an encouragement that enhances the peace we receive from above. We want to thank our world-wide family for praying on our behalf. Marlene, my wife, has often prayed for you. She often prays, "Lord, bless and help those who pray for us as you are answering their prayers."