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When I called my office this week, with the title for Sunday's message: "Good-bye and Hello: Here's to Life," they said, "You must mean, 'Here's to Life: Hello and good-bye,' not 'good-bye and Hello.'"

"No! No!" I said, "You're wrong, It's GOOD-BYE AND HELLO."

To understand what I mean, read Isaiah, Chapter 42, verses 9 and 10. "Behold the former things have come to pass and new things I do declare. Before they spring forth. I tell you of them. Sing to the Lord a new song!î That's what life is all about! Good-byes and hellos, but the good-byes are first. There cannot be a "Hello" until there is a "Goodbye."

A mother says, "good-bye" to pregnancy, "hello" to motherhood. The baby says, "good-bye" to the womb, so safe and so secure, then says, "hello" to the touch of a mother and a father. Life is filled with goodbyes. The child says "good-bye" to the crib, "hello" to the nursery, "hello" to the school classroom. "Good-bye" to childhood, "hello" to the teenage years!

And then "good-bye" to high school! You are graduating! Congratulations. "Hello" to what? College? And then "good-bye" to college! "Hello" to what? Graduate school? Or the work-a-day world? Or "hello" to a career? Then "good-bye" to singlehood! "Hello" to marriage!

It continues "good-bye" to the honeymoon, "hello" to the first baby, "good-bye" to the solitude of two lovers, "hello" to a family. Then "good-bye" to the family together when the last child leaves, and "hello" to the empty nest.

"Good-bye and Hello: Here's to Life!"

I was remembering as I wrote this morning's message of when I got married forty-six years ago. I said "good-bye" to my mom and dad, as they said "good-bye" to me.

That is why in the marriage ceremony we promise to... "Forsake all others, cleave to her only;" "forsake all others, cleave to him only," which means you say, "good-bye" to your dad and mom... "hello" to your husband... "hello" to your wife.

So when I got married, I said "good-bye" to my mom. My mother made the best deep-dish apple pies ever made by anyone in human history. That's the truth. Even Marie Callendar couldn't make an apple pie to match my mom's! It was fantastic! Her apple pies were at least three inches deep, and she always cut the pie in six pieces so we really had a generous piece of pie.

"Hello" to my wife! "Can you make apple pie?" I asked. She said, "Ohhhh, yes." I shall never forget (and this is a true story) the first apple pie Arvella made. It was only an inch thick. That was okay, but then she served me the first piece. Not only was it only an inch thick, but it was no more than two inches wide. I couldn't believe it.

I said to her, "Honey, what happened?"

She said, "What do you mean, 'what happened?'"

I said, "It's such a little piece."

"Oh, no," she said, "it's normal size."

You see, she was one of seven children. When they made an apple pie, it was cut in nine pieces. She thought all apple pies were cut in nine pieces! I looked at it. Then she gave me a line I still remember today. She said, "Honey, desserts are meant to leave a sweet taste in your mouth. They are not meant to fill you up!" "Good-bye" Mom! "Hello" Honey! I love you anyway. I promised, "for better, for worse!"

Life is a matter of "goodbyes and "hellos."

I want to pay a special tribute today to the extended family. Many of you never knew your father or your mother. You were adopted as an infant. Some children who were adopted in infancy were loved and cared for, but as they grew older, they carried some resentments. Why were they let out for adoption?

Not a few people in this country have willingly offered their heart, their home, their purse and their passions to little children who are of another race or another creed or another culture. Some of these children resent the fact that they were adopted, not by their own race, but by their own culture. I share these words from an unknown author for the adopted child.

"Good-bye"... "Hello!"

"Once there were two women who never knew each other. One you never knew and do not remember, The other one you call mother. Two different lives shaped to make you one beautiful person. The first one gave you life, the second one taught you to live it. The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it. One gave you a nationality, the other one gave you a name. One gave you talent, the other gave you aim. One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears. One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears. One sought for you a home that she could not provide. The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied. Now you ask me, through your tears, the age old question of the years! Heredity or environment, which are you a product of? Neither one, my child... just two different kinds of love."

Then there is the extended family, which includes the uncles, aunts and grandparents. I want to pay tribute today to my only brother, Henry, and his wife, Alberta. They could never have children. So they were childless through life. But do you know what they did? They opened their home and their heart to all of our five children.

All of our five children are really great. We have had no problems with them. Why? Because of "Uncle Henry" and "Aunt Alberta".

Often in the summers, when I was asked to travel for international conferences and speaking trips, Mrs. Schuller would accompany me while the children took turns visiting "Uncle Henry" and "Aunt Alberta" on the farm. Through the years of adolescence when our teenagers would be thinking of doing something that I didn't approve of, I would say, "Well, what do you think Uncle Henry would say?" I remember how quiet Bob would get when I asked him, "Would Uncle Henry be proud of that, Bob?" And he listened. When you hear our son preach today, remember this. He had a good uncle. He had a good aunt. He had a good extended family.

How do we say "Good-bye?"

Oh, we say "good-bye" when we leave things behind, you see. The tricycle is left behind. The cap and gown of high school or college is left behind. We leave the notes behind. The books we read that we'll never crack open again. We prepare to move. Now, what do you take with you?

So many of the things that you thought were so precious now become clutter. They would only add unnecessary weight. What do you pack? Remember this. You need a passport because you are going into tomorrow and you've never lived there before! Like it or not, you have to say "good-bye" to today... "hello" to tomorrow!

"I shut the door on yesterday and threw the key away. Tomorrow has no fears for me for I have found today."

You don't belong in yesterday anymore! God has something better for you. It is a tomorrow with new hopes! Yes, and some different kinds of hurts. New games and some different kind of pains. What do you take with you? What do you leave behind?

As a pastor, I stand at the grave side and offer last words to the loved ones of the family member who has died. I remind the families that "Life is like a great continent, and we stand on the edge where it touches the ocean. The ocean is so huge that you cannot see beyond the horizon of the water. Our loved one has sailed away from us on a ship and we are here to say ''Goodbye.....î "Goodbye..... ì ''Goodbye....î The ship slips over the horizon and guess what? There is another shore where a shout is heard: 'Here he comes, hello!' Here she comes, 'Hello!' 'Hello!' 'Hello!'"

All "good-byes" lead to a better "hello" in God's providence.

Every phase leads to something better! This week, on television, Ann Jillian starred in a true story, "My Son, the Matchmaker." It moved me. If you missed it, let me summarize it briefly:

A fifteen-year-old girl became pregnant and the parents said, "You are getting out of town, until you have that baby." So she was moved out of her home. She said "good-bye" to the boy she loved. Never to see him again. The baby was born and the orders were that she put her baby out for adoption. She was not allowed to see or touch her baby, nor was she allowed to know who adopted it. "Good-bye!"

Years and years and years passed. Then a social worker connected with the mother, now forty-years-old or more. Out of the blue the social worker asked the question, "Did you ever have a baby when you were about fifteen? And was it a boy?" The woman nodded her head, "yes."

The social worker said, "He's alive. He has traced you. He wants to meet you. There is no trouble. He is married and they are expecting their first child. He wants to know what he is made of. What kind of a mother are you? Will you please see him?"

The mother said, "No, I said good-bye to that!"

The worker says, "Please."

The mother says, "Well, what kind of a man is he?"

The reply: "Oh, very good. Actually he is a preacher and a pastor."

"Oh, he is? My son is a pastor? Okay, I'll see him."

The son and the mother met. Cautious, then tender, with each other. The pastor, her son, said, "I need to meet my father. I need to know what he is like. His height. The color of his skin. I need to know him."

His mother, whom he just met, said, "No. I can't go back to that. I said 'good-bye' long ago. No. No. No!..." Finally she is persuaded to search him out. They find the father. A wonderful man. A good man. He is lonely. He and the mother look at their son, now a pastor. They touch. The love they felt as teenagers, is still there. They hug. He proposes marriage... You know who marries them? The pastor, their son!

Goodbye! Hello!

To some of you I have to say I was wrong a few minutes ago. You have to go back! You said "good-bye" to God and to Jesus and the Bible somewhere, some way. Was it in college? Was it in the university? Was it in a time of pain and hurt and bitterness? You said "good-bye" to the Ten Commandments?

God is calling you. Go back and say "hello" to God... "Are You the God I prayed to when I was in the first grade?"

Say "hello" to Jesus... "Are You the Jesus I sang about?" "Jesus loves me, this I know." Go back and sing a new song unto your God! Amen.

Prayer: O Lord, with You all of our "good-byes" are sweet sorrows. And all of our "hellos" are a new song. Thank You, Jesus Christ, for coming. For dying on Calvary's cross... Good-bye! For rising up from the grave on Easter morning to give us new life for all of our tomorrows... Hello! Amen.