Feeling Loved

What a day!!! It's 4 am and I should be asleep. But my mind has been racing about the day and sleep continues to evade me. I can't help but think of the church full of my friends, the wonderful food, and all the work that went into today. When I think of those guys who were up all night cooking a whole hog, and the people that cut the shrubs at the church so the place would look nice, and the

wonderful decorations, and chocolate fountains, and the ice cream station, and the tent filled with friends and family it is almost more than my mind can comprehend. All of this for Peggy, me and our family. WOW! If there is one sentenced that would sum up the thoughts of today it would be that I felt loved. This isn't something new from my church family. I can say that for most of the fifteen years that I have been at Logansport I have felt loved. But today; today was just over the top.

Today was a day filled with different emotions. There is a piece of me that is so excited about what God is going to do with the congregation this summer. There is a piece of me that looks forward to time with my family. There is a piece of me that can't wait to walk in the footsteps of Paul. And there is a piece of me that already misses my church family. My emotions were in high gear as I shed tears of sorrow saying goodbye at the end of the service and as I shed tears joy being roasted by my friends. What a joy to empower Pastor Mike and Pastor Tom to lead the congregation during the worship service and then, at the bible trivia game, I have pastor cheat sheet setting on my left and the prophetic pastor answering questions before they were read on my right. I knew it was a set up from the very beginning but what a blast. I laughed till I cried and I cried until I laughed. 

You know, when I go to the funeral home they call me pastor, the newspaper calls me Reverend, my students at Indiana Wesleyan call me professor, my computer calls me doctor but my church calls me friend. And of all the titles I carry that one means the most to me today. I was blessed and I can never say thank you enough. From the cooks to the servers, from the decorators to the clean up crew, from the planers to the preparers, from the roaster to the scorekeeper, from pastor cheat-sheet on my right to the prophetic pastor on my left I say thank you. Thank you for making our departing day special. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into today. Thank you for making our family feel loved.  You are all such a blessing!