As I write this I am sitting on a deck overlooking a quiet, beautiful lake in Maine. Nature is singing all around me and the only reminder that I am not alone is the sound of cars on the highway in the distance. This is one of the most peaceful places I know. It is just what my heart and soul need right now.
When Covid first became part of our everyday life and we began to isolate ourselves from others, we began to notice a difference in my mother’s cognitive ability. From that time until she passed away in July, we, day by day, often hour by hour, lost a little more of who she had always been. I realize now that going through that with her chipped away at my heart piece by piece. I find myself not mourning her death, because I know that she would never have wanted to live the way she was living, but, needing to heal from the long journey of saying good bye.
I have looked forward to getting to this place, this peaceful setting, for weeks. Now that I am finally here, it is exactly how I knew it would be. Sometimes you have to get far enough away from the rat race of life to fully feel the peacefulness of God’s presence. I hope that you have such a place to retreat to when you need to reboot or heal. I have to chuckle when I realize that there are two places that bring me this kind of peace and when I asked God to lead me to a spouse of His choosing for me, He led me to Dave who just happened to have parents that spend half of each year in both of those places!
It feels like this summer has been one change after another. Losing my mother would have been enough, but we are also going through a change at church. As I mentioned in a recent children’s sermon, I have only had four pastors in my life. Each one was my pastor for more than ten years. As a teacher, I would often tell parents of my students that all changes, good or bad, require a time of adjustment. That is also true for me and for all of us as a church. Jim King is not stepping down as our Pastor because we wanted him to go. He is stepping down because it was the right time for him and his family and, because he is a man who walks closely with God, it was the time that God had chosen for this transition. I am so thankful for Lance, Megan, Jodie, Evelyn, Gary and Jess for all the prayer and work they put into searching for our next pastor. After meeting Caroline, I am convinced they couldn’t have found a better person to take us to the next chapter of the life of our church. People are always saying that a new person has huge shoes to fill. We should not expect that. Caroline was not chosen for Parkway to fill Jim’s shoes, but to be the pastor that God created her to be and to lead this church as God guides her to do. I will always be grateful for the time I had working with and learning from Jim, but look forward to working with and learning from Caroline. If we are open to change, the time for adjustment will be much easier. I believe God still has much to do with Parkway. Let us all be willing to go where He leads.