Saying goodbye

I'm sitting at the Vienna airport waiting for the plane to show up. Yesterday I said goodbye to Urs and his family. They spent 10 days showing me the very best of Switzerland. It was intriguing to go from the big cities then to the Alps and the villages in the valleys and then back to the cities. My heart craves the simplicity and the quietness of the villages.
I really don't like to say goodbye. Goodbyes are very hard for me. I remember at Christmas holding my mom in my arms while we stood in the parking lot of the Cancer Center. It was then I knew I would never see her again. My life has been full of those moments. Then when you least expect it God takes one of those goodbyes and shows you that it was simply a "see you later." That's the way it has been with Urs.
Last year I watched the movie "The Bucket List" and immediately did my bucket list. On it I put several things, like skydiving, traveling Europe, doing a ballpark road trip around the USA with Ryan, finding God's right woman to spend my life with, going and ministering in the old Soviet Union and then one thing that surprised even me, I wanted to see Urs in Switzerland.
So not only do I get to check that one off, but I added three more to my list while I was with him. Like sledding from Praeda down to Bergun. I watched a video of it and I just have to do it. Spending more time in Bergun. A wonderful little village tucked away in the Alps. And deepening my friendship with Urs, his wife Silke, and their two daughters.
Which is what made saying goodbye so hard. Never have I felt so immediately a part of a family. From the moment I saw Urs and Elizabeth at the airport in Zurich I felt like I belonged. Throughout my time I mentioned this to Urs and he always responded that he felt the same when he lived with us 36 years ago.
So thanks Urs, Silke, Elizabeth, Eva and Mama for welcoming me and turning my goodbyes to you into see you laters. I know too, that as Max Lucado has said for believers every goodbye is really a see you later.
Check out the photo above. Urs and I standing next to a beautiful lake up in the Alps.