LEAVING HOME WITHOUT YOUR KIDS
When we left to Pastor a Church in the Whitsundays we left our children, Ben and Rachel, behind in Sydney. Rachel was still in her late teens, but both of them were already involved in Hillsong Church and did not want to leave. We remember the pain of driving off without them, and for the next 10 years we commuted between the Whitsundays and Sydney every opportunity we had. It's so strange leaving home WITHOUT YOUR KIDS. It is normally the other way around.
In Genesis 21 Abraham's pain must have been so much worse as he realised he would never see Ishmael again.
"So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar's shoulders. Then he SENT HER AWAY with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba" (Genesis 21:14 NLT).