no endings, just new beginnings

"10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
--Acts of the Apostles (NIV)

I was thinking about the above from Acts yesterday as I skated home from Barrett and Sarah's house for the last time. They left for New York state today to settle some final details before they move there later this summer, and I leave in a couple of days for LA and a month long stint at Ammon Hennacy House.

Though I've no doubt that my friendship with them will continue on for a very long time I can't help feeling their move a bit. The two of them have been really important to my spiritual developement and to understanding my faith and what it means to live as a Christian and a radical.

This passage from Acts could really be seen as the start of the mission of the Apostles, one minute they are saying their farewells to Jesus and the next minute there are these two celestial looking people standing before them reminding them that they have have work to do that doesn't involve staring at the sky.

looking back on the year that I've had to get aquainted with Barrett and Sarah I can see how much of our friendship was shared directly with Christ. I can recall how when I first met them I was praying for some kind of greater understanding of my faith, I was praying for some way to place my various beliefs in context to one another and without my really being aware of it the friendship that I shared with the two of them has in so many ways done just that.

Now we've each got work to do.