Finding the "Good" in Good-bye

It's a word I hate. "Good-bye." We had to say it again today as Tom and Kay Moll ended their fourteen-plus years ministry with Christ's Church at Mason (Ohio).
I didn't think saying the word would bring me to tears like it usually does. After all, this good-bye is a gateway to many good things things in the future.
Soon we'll say "hello" to Trevor DeVage and a new chapter in the service of our church. "I think the church's best days are ahead," Tom said in his final sermon this morning. Many of us would agree.
But today was a day for thinking briefly about the past. Kay gave a sweet and moving testimony to Tom's 50 years of ministry in a video tribute that preceded his appearance on the platform for his Sunday-morning sermon. She mentioned the thousands of Saturdays he spent calling, the uncounted nights he left home to help someone facing crisis, the commitment to uncovering  the truth in passages he was preaching.  The video reminded us of our church's growth from 600 to more than 3,000 members in his years at Mason, the three building programs, the church's growth in service to others as well as attendance within our walls on the weekends.
Considering the consistent, week-in-week-out faithfulness of this couple was the trigger for my tears. Remembering their lifetime of good choices and sacrifices, realizing the uncounted hours they've spent studying, preparing, and traveling to speak and serve--it's an example and challenge to all of us who know them and have been served by their goodness.
It's not that Evelyn and I have been close friends of Tom and Kay. We won't miss them the way we miss friends who move away. But thinking today about all they've given, not as perfect people but as perfectly committed people, helped us realize what we will remember about them for years to come.
And that's the "good," the very good, in this  "good-bye."

I snapped this picture of Mary Jane Burgess and Kay Moll at the lovely reception for Tom
and Kay hosted by our elders and their wives this afternoon at the church.
Mary Jane and her husband John came to hear Tom's last sermon this morning.
We enjoyed brunch with them after the early service and a brief visit at our place after that,
and then we got to the church a little after the reception's starting time, 2:00,
and waited in line 30 minutes or longer
before we could tell Tom and Kay thank-you face-to-face.