"one more thing"

Started this day looking forward to my Sunday rituals. Couldn't wait to get to church. For my loyal readers, you know just how much I need Sunday church to renew my spirit, set me up for the week. I love my church family as just that, family. So I love getting to check in with them every week.

And today started out the same!

Before the service, we were joking with Pastor T about the length of his sermon, etc. like we do every Sunday. He went back to his office shaking his head and smiling. Ah, the beginning of another amazing Sunday.

Pastor started out the morning with lengthy announcements...of pancake dinners, and holiday events, thanking people for service, etc.

and then there was a pause...

he added "one more thing"

He's received a call. To another church. He has until Christmas to decide. And we should feel free to stop by and talk to him about it.

It is hard to even write about this right now, being so fresh. I cried through the entire service. And I've cried with two other members of our congregation, as well as one woman who heard the news on the radio.

While he has not told of his choice either way, in my heart, I feel he is going, and it is devastating. Pastor T is the Faith head of our congregation. Father. Leader. and most of all Friend. There are so many of us that only transferred into the congregation after he arrived. There are so many things...

His sermons are amazing. He has such a gift. I feel every week that he is speaking just to me.

Our children LOVE him. He makes them feel at home. Recently, he went to the funeral of a mother of a friend. His being there meant the world to their young son, who at his young age, sees Pastor T as family. My daughter has already told him before that no matter where she gets married, HE is to come to do the service.

My son has an especially close relationship with Pastor T. And it hurts to think that this important male figure may move out of his life... I know that my son has learned so much from him, and been influenced by him. I just hope it doesn't have to end.

And his wife. I cannot even begin to talk about what she means to me....

I have been part of congregations that have lost pastors before. And I've never been affected this way before. He is so much more than a Pastor. I honestly cannot even imagine our church without him.

Being a Christian, I know that it is out of my hands. It is God's plan, which ever way it goes. But it doesn't change the incredible loss I already feel, not even knowing if he is leaving. While I am giving it up to God, my heart continues to ache.