Close to Family Who Live Far Away? A Hopeless Case...

1. How NOT to Stay Close to Family Who Live Far Away

How do two hermits stay close? They don’t.

Well, that is not entirely true. But one of the hermits, my brother Brad, is a tech dinosaur in the extreme—he has no internet at all and a mobile phone number that he never answers. An old-school hippie, he never caught on to the need for a computer. He only has a phone for business purposes, and it won’t call abroad anyway. So, how do we keep in touch?

The roundabout circuit. I, the other hermit, might not be the best of correspondents but I have made inroads into keeping in touch. My best friend and Brad’s dear pastor help us keep contact through social media. Facebook has done what no one else can do. I pass the messages on and hope he gets them. And he does!

No one in my neck of the woods can believe that someone can live so off the grid. Who is to say if his life is not richer for it. I will get back to you all on that soon...

2. Some suggestions

The article* I took this image from had four ways of keeping in contact. The first one with calls has been firmly crossed out in my case. That phone is never answered!

The next, a visit, is now on the schedule and gets us to Texas for a couple weeks and a Thanksgiving celebration (suggestion #4 from the article). This we are looking forward to though we are doing all sorts of research to avoid spending that two and a half weeks without internet or a working phone that doesn’t cost a fortune in roaming charges. Perish the thought!

How do you spend time together after so long? Having lived for a grand total of 41 years abroad in Poland, my family only got back to Texas rarely, and then most often when the children were small. We couldn’t keep the kids away from their only grandparents, could we? Then came the untimely illness and the death of both parents and, as so often happens, time (with help from Covid’s ugly face) slipped away from my brother and me. From what I can see from other far-flung families, this is the norm-- a new generation forms a new life away from the grands’ friends back yonder. The loss is usually mutual.

But my brother and I have a special privilege. I saw, rather heard, of him coming to God after years of living with addictions and purposelessness. Now he is one of the brightest sparks in the bonfire for his Lord! So we hope to spend lots of time in Bible study and praise!

Then there are friends from school, further family and just seeing how another ten years has changed the old stomping grounds. My biggest project is fixing a Thanksgiving dinner for my brother. He mostly eats out, so (I hope) my kitchen exertion will be a treat! The turkey and cornbread stuffing should last him a week when we are gone.

That leaves the article’s last suggestion: long letters. I sent one while on vacation, filling my homebody brother in on the beauty of Croatia and Italy. Maybe we can pry Brad out of Texas for a short weekend trip? We’ll try though it would be like pulling up an oak tree.

3. Oh, there is one more point 

How to keep in touch works for our relationship with God too. They perfectly overlapped, much to my surprise! Even when we are not responsive, HE does not soon give up trying, neither do I though His are much better than my paltry attempts at keeping close to my brother.

Calls are prayers, both informal and those special ones we repeat so often. Informal ones, you ask? I am thinking of the kind like a small child who talks to his parents. The butterfly, the dog, the clouds all get noticed and commented on. So our responses to the Heavenly Father can be about everything that touches us. My friend’s pain, my missing ‘something,’ my reaction to a beautiful autumn day. All of it He hears and responds to. Those are the kind we feel a response to as well! From His side!

Visits for longer times together in Bible study and worship are indeed special. Those happen each Sunday but not only. Those celebrations in fellowship at the manger and empty tomb are obvious.

And the fourth suggestion, the long letters? HE has written the most awe-inspiring long letter of all—the whole story of his relationship with our kin is there and what HE did to keep it going. Just crack open that Bible and see the throbbing heart of love and care within. His hard days with our hard-headed forebears and harder ways He had for dealing with them are there too, but we are family after all. We understand what it takes to stay close. And HE has done it all, and more! That cross stands unique in revealing the lengths a loving God will go to keep close to His people.

So, read those letters gathered in the Old and New Testaments and see for yourself. Then try to ‘keep close’ to the head of the family of God. He is waiting for your call.

Image from article at hisforhomeblog.com, image found on Pinterest.