Hitting the Ground Running

I had many faults and flaws as a youth pastor during my 28 years of service to churches, but there were two areas in which I consistently excelled.  I always left a church in a strong and positive way, making sure the students knew I was never leaving because of them.  And I always arrived at a new ministry with goals, focus, a plan in mind and energy to spare. In other words, I always hit the ground running!  Normally these two events took place in close proximity to each other; I would depart one ministry and arrive at the next within the same week.  In January of 2006 I prepared to go to Trinity UMC of Waycross, GA after 6 months of rest, prayer and planning.  They had no idea what was about to hit them!


I set my arrival date at February 15, 2006.  Since I would be spending several months away from Marilyn and Will (who would remain in Tampa through the end of the school year), I wanted to spend Valentine's Day with them; I could head north after that.  In the meantime, I began to brainstorm ideas and programs for my first few months in Waycross.  I would be free of my own family responsibilities, which meant I would have loads of time to visit families and see ballgames, concerts plays and any other events the youth of TUMC were involved in.  I knew going in that the active youth fell into two main groups; middle school girls and high school boys.  I would need to reach out and try to bring back those who had dropped out, and also build bridges between those who were there.  I also knew that I would spend lots of time early on trying to renovate the two houses on campus that the youth had been meeting in.  One was not terrible (it had a Hawaiian theme and needed a fierce cleaning); the other was an absolute disaster.  My office was also in that house, and it was beyond help.  I would be starting from scratch- there was not even a desk.  I begin to order some things to help spruce the place up a bit.  I wanted to make an impression.


I then discovered that the first weekend in February was to be a big one at TUMC.  On Saturday, there would be an all-day church planning conference, as each area of ministry shared their goals and ideas for the coming year.  On Sunday, the youth would be having a big Super Bowl party at the home of a couple who helped out with the ministry and their high school boys.  I decided that I needed to be there for both of those events, and the church and the youth were thrilled at my excitement.  As usual, I didn't just spectate- I jumped in with ideas and challenges on Saturday and by helping on Sunday.  By the time the weekend was over, I felt like a part of the church family, and there were still two weeks before my first official Sunday.  I could not wait to get started.  I really felt like God was getting me ready to do a great work in Waycross.


But life happens.  I didn't actually arrive on February 15th- it was a week later.  By the time I got there, my whole life had changed, and my energy levels were way down.  I had been so excited about what I could do.  Now it was time to once again let Jesus carry me.  That story is coming Friday.


Because of Jesus,