In Moby Gym next week

We're over here in Colorado for the next ten days for a big Family Reunion of sorts.  We're here with co-laborers from all across the country, some thousands of us - I'll get the real stat and update that soon.  I don't mean to get overly schmaltzy, but for me this is a pale version of a sneak peek at heaven - because for the next week we get to come together to share stories of what we see God doing to rescue lives, and we get to worship together, and pray together, and sit in meetings where we strategize and dream together; this is our biennial "Staff Conference".
I keep running into people whom I've literally known for over half of my life (since I was in high school).  We're not techanically related, but serving together, with a common passion to advance the gospel, connects us in ways even closer than folks on a family tree. 
For example yesterday, I had Ruby and Sadie Lou with me to walk through the registration line for our "staff conference", and I saw a former mentor, Kevin.  I said, "Girls, this is Mr Kevin, and he taught Momma to love God's Word more than anyone else ever has..." and then my voice cracked cuz my mind was flipping through memories of all the times he led devotionals, or told stories, or went with me door to door in inner city New York sharing our faith with eager listeners.  And I remembered standing next to him in a hotel lobby in Orlando on a Tuesday morning as we watched on the tv a live shot of the second plane hitting the Twin Towers, and he and I and a few others had an emergency staff meeting to pray and talk through implications for our ministry.
And this morning at breakfast in our hotel I got to hug more co-laborers, many of whom I haven't seen in years.  We exchange pleasantries, and it's not super deep, yet we have an understanding, a common language, and a shared journey.  Throughout the week as we walk around the college campus where we're all meeting, I anticpate running into more and more friends and co-workers from the past couple decades.  We'll be sure to grab lunch with some, or even a late night ice cream run, and we'll share deeper dreams, and more personal struggles, and we'll encourage each other, and just "get" each other.
And in that way, it's my little sneak peek at heaven.