Pastor Dick

The senior pastor at our church is in the process of retiring.  When I first learned of it, the news came as a shock to me, although looking back over the past several months, it really shouldn't have been much of a surprise.  Pastor Dick's retirement is one more thing I'm struggling with (is there anything I'm not struggling with lately, really???).  I am happy that he and his wife are able to move on and will have so many opportunities to make memories with their grandchildren, and I will do what I can to keep communication with this wonderful man open.  And even though I will hold the memories dear, I still can't help but feel a touch of sadness that this time with this gentle man is over.

We came to this church a little over two years ago.  Noah and I had been attending a different church on our own and things were changing there.  Shawn had never felt comfortable there either, and only came on the rare occasions I begged him to.  A few things that happened before and after Avery's birth made me realize God had been telling me it was time to seek out a new church for our entire family to call home.

CCF was the first--and last--church we visited.  We immediately felt welcome, comfortable and, most importantly, loved and accepted.  This was the first church where Noah has been openly accepted as he is.  No one questions his quirky behaviors or suggests to me that I need to increase his medication.  No one has ever asked me what is wrong with my child.  It took us a while to be comfortable leaving Avery in the nursery, but once we started it, he was in good hands and right at home.  Shawn and I are learning to lead our family together in a relationship with Christ.  We are learning to praise and worship as a couple, to pray as a couple and learn as a couple.  Yes, we are learning to learn!

I do believe one of the strongest influences in this new church has been our senior pastor.  Pastor Dick is a gentle soul, with a fatherly/grandfatherly way about him.  That is what our family has so desperately yearned for and needed.  Neither Shawn nor I have paternal influences in our lives, so our children do not have grandfathers. I wish I could put into words just how much Pastor Dick's personality and bearing have meant to me and my family over the past two years.  He doesn't need to say that he has looked upon his flock as his children; his actions have said it all.  This man has welcomed me each week with a hug, always telling me how special we are to him, always asking how we're doing.  He has kept us with what is going on in our family, always available for prayer and a kind word (or more).  He has baptized Noah and dedicated Avery.  He's been there for us, whether out in front or in the background.  I know he has done this for each family in his flock, but the way he does it allows us to know that we are individually special to him.

I wish I knew how to tell this man how much he means to us.  Honestly, I don't quite know how to put it into words.  He has been there for us and, unwittingly and unknowingly I'm sure, filled a void in our lives.  We will saw goodbye to him tomorrow night at a special dinner in his honor, but I don't know if he will ever be able to understand what he's done for us.

God saw the need our family had for a paternal figure in our lives.  He filled that empty space with Pastor Dick.  Now, I believe, as Pastor Dick moves on to another stage in his life, God is telling us it is time to move on with our own.  I don't know what is next or what that means, but I do know He is desperate to teach me to be more dependent on Him, to see Him as the true Father in my life.  As always, God's hand is in "it" and will always keep us safe.