Third Visit

Yes, we made another trip in the age of high gas prices, but it’s for a good reason. Rob preached the first sermon at the church for the congregational vote. Rob got another positive vote. The congregation and Rob had really hit it off. They like him, and we do, too.

He preached on Matthew 10:40-42, which is about welcoming others and while welcoming others, we welcome God into our lives. This sermon is fitting for today, because this church from the beginning has always been welcome to both of us. They are generous and open. We can see that they truly love the community and want to serve God using their gifts.

Rob will be preaching again later in July in front of the presbytery. The presbytery will have the final vote on his call. Then he will have two services: ordination and installation. Since this is Rob’s first call, he will be ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament. Soon, we will move to a new manse.

Rob worked so hard for this call. He graduated from seminary back in 2002. Since then, he had many hurdles and hoops to jump over and through. Ordination exams, meetings, papers, and more. Finally in last May, he was offered an interest on a call. We talked about it and prayed about it. We knew about the challenges of finding a job for me. We knew about the challenges of living in a new area and doing the ministry in a small church. We made that decision together and agreed to go forward with this call.

Second Visit to Kentucky

This trip took us to Lexington, Kentucky. We didn’t have time to see the horses, but one day we will. Rob had two meetings with two different committees that oversee his calling. While he was out at the meeting, I decided to make a trip to Danville, the home of Kentucky School for the Deaf. It was about an hour away.

The lady at KSD took me on a detailed, two-hour tour about the school. She is deaf and is a KSD alumni. I am thoroughly impressed with the outreach program. KSD is the state wide resource center on deafness, which should be in the first place and makes total sense. I am aware that Texas does this, too. I wish more states do this. The campus is split into two campuses with a main road going through it. Middle school and high school are on one side of the campus while elementary school is on the other side. It’s a beautiful campus. She also showed me Jacobs Hall, the oldest building on campus. Let me say this and I don’t use this word often. Wow! There are three floors of different exhibits including the dorm rooms, classrooms, portrait gallery, chapel, cafeteria, and technology room. The volunteers worked many, many hours to make it look like the way it is, and still isn’t finished.  After the tour, it was time for me to go back to Lexington.

As I got into the car to pick up Rob, he paged me to tell me the good news. He got positive votes for his call at a church. I was relieved and happy and nervous. It is really going to happen. This is a major change for both of us.

While we were there, we learned that we actually knew two people in the area from college. Not only that, Rob also learned that his seminary classmate also lives in the area. What a small world!