Three Years

Saying three years really does not seem that long until you figure out that it adds up to 1,096 days or 26,298 hours.  Whoa!  Three years can be a long time at the start, but at the completion you wonder where time flew.  I am glad that the three years are over, but it has been a blessing too.  So what in the world am I talking about?

Well, I guess I should start at the beginning.  I have been raised off and on in the United Methodist Church.  Growing up I would attend church with my grandparents both during the two phases of my life that I lived with them and when I would have overnights at their house growing up.  When mom married husband number two, we moved out to the country and started going to a United Methodist church in the neighboring town where we attend school.  When my half sister was born we became occasionally members going from time to time, then it got to the point of not much at all.  In high school, one of my neighbors invited me to ride with her and her mom to an even closer United Methodist Church- my beloved country church. 

This church, in my heart and soul, will always be my home church.  It had no parking lot, it had no phone, and it had no mailing address.  I attend church there for twelve years and I was married in that church.  I loved the members; they were like extra sets of grandparents to me.  My Sunday school teacher was my rock when the going got tough.  This church was my foundation when at times I felt like my foundation was crumbling.  My beloved country church closed on June 30, 2006.  We only numbered sixteen members that last year.  There are no words to describe that last service as I carried the flame out of the church that day.  I was truly heart broken, although I was glad that my Sunday school teacher did not live to see that day.  I know that a church is not the building it is the people, but it was the last time we would all be together as a congregation.  Everyone spread to different congregations throughout the area.  Three of the sixteen have been buried since then.

Since my church closed we have attended a United Methodist church not far from our home, my grandparent’s church.  Those first three services were the roughest.  I was still heart broken over the loss of my church that I cried through those first few services.  It probably did not help that I was pregnant with Pumpkin at the time.  I really did not want to give another church a chance, I wanted my church back.  Change can be hard.  None of us are ready for change, but it can be good for us too.  Out of something we deem as bad God can create something wonderful, something life changing if we let Him.

So were does the three years come in?  Well hold your horses, I’m getting there.  In August or September 2009, I received a phone call from the church's nominations committee.  The voice on the other end of the line said that they would like for me to serve as a chairperson of one of the committees.  He thought I would be a good fit as the education chairperson or the pastor parish relations committee (pprc) chairperson.  Well I thought to myself, “I haven’t been very active in this church yet, so why not.”  I thought that I had picked the wiser move by saying I would rather be the pprc chairman over the education chairman.  I had served on the pprc at my country church, so I felt confidant that I knew what I was getting myself into.  Hahahaha.  Famous last words!  The voice on the other end of the phone said that it was a three year chairmanship and I would also need to attend the church council meetings too starting January 1, 2010.  I got off the phone thinking I can do this.  Hubby on the other hand was not too pleased with my decision and three year commitment.  But, I definitely think he his happy now that my three years are up.

You know sometimes God has plans for you that you can NEVER imagine.  I do believe that God had a reason for getting me into the mess I ended up being in.  And believe me it was a very rocky road at the beginning.  After I was announced as the chairperson at the fall charge conference, I had people coming up to me telling me that there was no way I could do the job, I wasn’t fit for it, I would never last, I was too young.  Then our pastor at the time had to leave, so a retired pastor was temporarily assigned by the conference until a replacement could be found.  Anyway, my three year term started a touch early.  The conference introduced us to a new pastor and his wife on one of the last evenings of December at a meeting just for the pprc.  I took one look at him and thought to myself, “We are getting Santa Clause for a pastor!”  He was assigned to start on February 1st.

Oh . . . . I could definitely tell when my chairmanship started.  I received at least two phone calls promptly on January 1st from the two most influential members of the church telling me what they thought I should know.  I had to learn fast how to juggle their different personalities of “chicken little” (the sky is falling) and “queen” (all must follow what I say) as they played tug and war back and forth.  You see I have a different perspective than most.  I believe that there are two sides to ever story.  So just what you see on the surface, may not really be what is true.  Of course when I had discussions with both, I would always check my facts before I acted instead of jumping right in.  “Chicken little” was my most daunting obstacle and I learned very quickly to check my caller id and that it was best to respond to an answering machine messages than a live call.  I was even once ambushed at daycare by “chicken little” on a mission.  (Please note: I do have quite a bit of respect for both of these members and they are both an essential part of our church, so I mean no disrespect for the descriptive names.  Both are really wonderful in their own right, both have worked to build up the church, both have done so much for the church, and both remind me of my dear Sunday School teacher.)

Now I did do a lot of good while chairperson of the pprc.  We had to find and reestablish the church’s misplaced mission statement.  We got a personnel policy written.  We got a sexual harassment policy written (as required by the conference).  We wrote a job description for the secretary.  We wrote a job description for the custodian.  We wrote a job description for the grounds keeper.  So I was a good choice to get the committee up to par in the respect of required paperwork.

So where does God come in?  Well I think the chairmanship was God’s way of helping me and supporting me and my family.  Pastor and his wife arrived on February 1st.  Within days Princess turned 1 and Pumpkin turned 3.  I organized both a welcome to the church potluck for the pastor on a Saturday with the kids’ birthday party on the following day.  On February 8th our world seemed to stop spinning at least for a while.  On that day we got the news that mom was terminal with stage four brain and lung cancer.  What a way to break our new pastor in!  He was great.  His wife was great.  It has been a blessing in disguise to be working with them for three years.   He said A LOT of prayers.

After pastor’s arrival in 2010: Pumpkin had his first ear tube surgery, we lost grandpa, we lost mom, my dad’s cancer returned, and my work load at work doubled with responsibility and stress.  In 2011, things evened out a touch but we had to hurdle a lot of firsts without mom and grandpa.  In 2012, we spent a lot of time at the hospital between two seriously ill family members, Pumpkin had his second surgery, and once again my work load at work increased as well as the stress.  Pastor and his wife have been a miracle in disguise.  They have been supportive.  They have been faithful.  They have given of their time and energy.  And they truly care about those in their church family.  They gave us strength when we had none.  They gave prayers to lift us up.

Over the past three years, I have become closer to God than I had in recent years.  I really felt connected during my years at my small country church and through my earlier years of college.  Once my Sunday School teacher past, I began to lose my way again.  Faith can be like a current, sometimes we remain close to our belief and other times we seem to drift away for a while but in the end we are pulled back by the one who loves us, God.  The more involved I seem to get with my church, the stronger my faith seems to grow too.  Although, I do miss having a church buddy, to check in with, to ask questions of, to get support from.

Anyway, I think that the tough times in life are sometimes there to remind us that we are not alone.  To remind us that God loves us.  For how can we enjoy the good, if we have not experienced the bad?  I am not saying that God created the bad, but he gives us the opportunity to choose how we will react to the curves that life throws us.  We have the choice to allow the bad to make us stronger or to allow the bad to destroy us.

I guess that I have rambled on enough.  I will close with the verse that has helped me so much over the past few years. 

Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge!
How impossible it is for us to understand his decision and his way!
~ Romans 11:33 ~