Separation Anxiety. Desperate to be Reunited. (Part 1)

The distance between… I’d like to describe it as “anxiety.” Its the feeling of being separated from the one’s we love. When I was in high school, my father who was serving in the Air Force was called up to go to Kuwait… 6 weeks before the war became public. All I remember was a kiss on the forehead in the early morning hours. When I woke up, my mom told my brother and I he “had to leave.” For the next 6 weeks we didn’t know where he was. Just vanished. When all the news began to break about Desert Storm, we got a fuzzy phone call from my dad telling us where he was, and that he was not in harms way.

During these anxious 6 weeks of separation, my heart was filled with a constant tension. I wanted to know where he was, if he was hurting, I just wanted to be in his presence again. I knew in these moments what it feels like to be genuinely separated from the one you love.

This anxiety is real. The tension of being away from the one you love is something I believe we all can identify with. I believe this kind of anxiety is found in the deepest parts of who we are… especially if we are entertaining sin. Sin separates us from God. It’s in His presence we are made whole. We are desperate to be reunited with Him. So many examples in scripture of this separation, but one that stands out to me is… Romans 8:28-29. “Nothing can separate us from the love of God…” (steve paraphrase) What an awesome feeling to know God is with us and desires for His children to never be separated from Him! This separation sin has created needs to disappear and we all need to find the love, acceptance, and hope only found in the arms of the one who loves us the most. Jesus.

When my dad come home from Kuwait 9 months later. There was no better feeling in the world than to be in his arms. To be with him… in his presence. So much joy, peace and comfort. Dad was home. My dad served in every major conflict in my lifetime, except this last one. (He retired) We were separated a lot because of his military service. I know what it means to be separated from our loved ones. I wonder how God feels when his children wander away from Him? The separation killed him.

Now that’s a collision of faith.