Catherine Michaels was her name. She was a lonely, elderly, Christian widow who lived on my newspaper route when I was a boy. It was my practice when I delivered the newspaper to hand-deliver her paper and talk with her for a few moments to break the monotony of her day.

One day when I delivered her paper, she informed me that she was moving to California to live with her daughter. She thanked me for my visits, told me how much they meant to her, and tearfully told me that this would be the last time we would speak to each other in this life.

As I left her home that day, I said “Goodbye,” and when I did, she sternly told me to come back in her house. I didn’t know what I had done or if I had offended her. Then she explained. She said that she was not going to allow “goodbye” to be our final words.  She said that Christians will be together throughout eternity. Then she said, “You can say, ‘See you later,’ but you can’t say ‘goodbye.'”

So, as I left her house that day, I said, “See you later,” and these were the last words I ever spoke to her. I also left her house that day with a permanent impression on my mind of a truth I would never forget.

There are many reasons to be a Christian, but never having to say, “goodbye” must be one of the more compelling ones. What do you think? Give it some thought.

by Steve Higginbotham