Add to the list of things I don't do so well the act (or art) of saying goodbye. It's not that I haven't had enough practice. But practice doesn't always make perfect, and practice doesn't always make difficult tasks easy. And it's not that I don't realize that endings must, of necessity, precede new beginnings. I do know that. It's just that grief is a painful reality that won't go away quickly because we wish that it would. Relationships are built slowly and carefully (and prayerfully) over time with many words and many more caring interactions. When the time comes for those relationships to change, folks don't just click their heels together, spin around three times, snap their fingers and enter a new dimension of relationship reality. Goodbyes are hard.

 

     So let me try something that is not quite as hard...saying Thank You! Where to start? At the beginning, of course...

     -Thank You for receiving me so graciously in June of 2009, eight years ago. You were expecting the return of your excellent Pastor, Dr. Gary Whetsone, and I was expecting to return to Jonesboro First UMC for my sixth year, and then...things changed! To your credit you handled the change well and made me feel very welcome in this great Church.

 

     -Two and one-half years later you opened your hearts and arms and warmly welcomed my incredible wife, Mickey. Thank You for making a place for her at MPUMC; a place to worship, study, and serve. I am grateful for all of the ways that you have affirmed the most important person in my life.

 

     -Thank You for allowing me to share so many of the significant moments in your lives...times of great sorrow, times of great joy, and the ordinary times as well. You extended to me the privilege of walking beside you, and I appreciate that more than you'll ever know.

 

     -Thank You for all of your kind and encouraging words since the announcement was made that I was being re-appointed to the Newnan First UMC. The reception on May twenty-first was beyond awesome and I am deeply grateful for the wonderful food, the thoughtful gifts, and the expressions of Christian love, too many to count.

 

     -And Thank You for the wonderful way that I know you'll receive your new Senior Pastor, the Rev. Ellynda P. Lipsey. She is one of the most caring and competent Pastors that I know, and no doubt you'll soon be thanking God for Ellynda and her ministry.

 

     To paraphrase some words of the Apostle Paul, "I give THANKS to GOD for all my remembrances, for all my recollections of you!

Grace and Peace!