Face to face

I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. – 3 John 1.13-14

Life has certainly changed a lot in the last twenty years. When we first got to Ireland the only practical way to communicate with people was either a letter that took 8-10 days each way, or to pay IE£1.69 (about €2.25) a minute to make a phone call. In reality we hadn’t changed a whole lot since John wrote this letter to ‘the elder.’ The Roman postal service could deliver the post nearly as quickly as we could in 1995.

But it was still nice. We did it. We found a way to stay in touch and loved getting letters in the post.

Today though it is possible to open our computer or phone or tablet and touch the screen a couple of times and see the people we are talking to. Last Sunday we were able to talk to and see  our daughter and newest grandson within a couple of hours of his birth. With family back in the States now we are abel to interact and talk to and watch of grandchildren grow.


All of that is so much better than it used to be – but it is still not face-to-face. We see John’s heart here as we did not want to keep communicating with ‘pen and ink.’ He wanted to be able to sit down and talk to them face to face.

He went on to say ‘I hope to see you shortly.’

I certainly understand that feeling. Even with texting and email and Skype and FaceTime and all that there is nothing like sitting down face to face with people we love and having a cup of tea. There is nothing like being there and and spending real time really together.

I love that image. I love that John looked forward to fellowship. I hope we can have that same kind of love for each other and that we treasure the chances we have to see each other face to face.