It's A Wrap - Almost!

I find myself thinking about the words "Wrap up" this Monday morning. I hear the hammering of the carpet installer in the now almost finished basement as he puts the tack strips down. Our basement is nearly wrapped up now. We are in the final week of Jonah and the Pirates of the Mediterranean. We had a great rehearsal last night and the next one is Tuesday night, and then it's Wednesday dress rehearsal and four nights of performances. Our play, that started with me outlining it back in July of '07 and had our first read through in February, is now about to wrap up. And yesterday I wrapped up our Sunday morning lesson series on Be Real. It was the last of twenty-one lessons on Being Real about wanting to be like Jesus, and in may ways, it was the hardest lesson. The challenge question was, Do I Have the Mind of Christ. That was essentially what the other twenty lesson were all about, so how do you answer that without just repeating yourself?
I tried to focus on the bigger issues of our journey. The issues that determine how we look at life, deal with our problems, and face its conclusion. I decided that the mind of Jesus was guided by essentially three factors (and no, I didn't have to have a three point sermon). The mind of Jesus was spiritual; the mind of Jesus was selfless; and (this may sound strange) the mind of Jesus was homesick.
By homesick I mean that he was longing to return to his Father - to be back in heaven. I closed the lesson with a look at Acts 1 where Jesus is taken up to heaven in a cloud and the apostles where just frozen in place watching him disappear into the atmosphere. The angel asked them, "Why are you standing there staring into the sky?" He told them to get on with it! I noticed something very profound about this event. Jesus never said "Good-bye". He didn't need to because he KNEW it was not a good-bye moment, but a see ya later moment. I was surprised by the people who commented to me after the lesson about how they've struggled with guilt and pain because they didn't get to say "Good-bye" to someone they loved who died. Isn't that simply an indication of how much we are focused on the world rather than eternity? He was ready to be home! He "loved his own" on earth, but the separation was short - was nothing compared to being together for eternity! Maybe the true test of having the mind of Jesus is seen in our ability to "let go" of this world - whether it's accepting our own temporary nature, or accepting the inevitability of having loved ones go before us. Forget the "good byes"! Let go of this world and get excited about the better one our Father has for us. Just as we can and should be thankful for every moment of every day of life He gives us, we must be thankful that to really be with Jesus, we have to let go of it - and we can.