sacredest...

headed to Cleveland for a friend’s wedding at the church i served in 8 years ago.  so great to see friends.  as i was driving down… i remembered something a counselor asked me years ago when i was working through some stuff with him.  “randy, when you’re returning from vacation… as you’re driving back into town… are you thinking about coming back to a job… or are you thinking about coming back to people?”

driving to Cleveland… i have to admit… when that question came back into my awareness, i was thinking more about going to a wedding at a church i used to pastor than thinking about the people i was going to see.  that’s not a good thing.

but recognizing it helped me to shift into “people” mode.  and from then on… it was an interesting drive.  my mind… and i’d like to think GOD… brought back a lot of memories from our time there.  memories of people and events…

i began re-living it all… reconnecting with the emotions… the people… and my friends.

and when i arrived… even though it was 5 minutes before the wedding was to start… i was amazed with all the people i was able to instantaneously remember and relate with on a pretty deep level… at least from my angle.

…some reminded me of things i did for them that i had long forgotten.

…some told new stories that filled in the missing pieces from where we’d left off.

i was amazed at how quickly we re-engaged.

the church has grown a ton and is doing some pretty exciting things.  it’s clear it’s gone way beyond what i was ready to take it when i was there.

and i got a chance to spend the evening with some good friends.

then the next morning i took off early to run in the metroparks.  not many were out.  it was perfect.  i forgot how beautiful the area is.  and there on that 7 miles i saw place after place where GOD had met me. 

i realized that although i know all space is sacred space… because GOD is everywhere…

…but some spaces feel more sacred that others… because we touched the face of GOD there.

and as i reconnected with the GOD of those “sacredest” spaces… my years and ministry and friends and experiences… and even my memories of frustrations and frustrating people… …became sacred.

so… driving home…  it was pretty sweet.

Comments

[Mindy Kaiser]

Hi Randy! Hey got your blog address from Random Thoughts' blog.

Just wanted to say you and Beth are awesome! When you were at Northwoods I was blessed because of both of you!

God has mightily worked in my life and I thank you both for letting Jesus shine through!

God bless you both!