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 ~
