Greetings all, from icy Massachusetts. Melissa and I have amazingly made it through all twenty-eight days of February. One day the frozen water was so thick on the car windshield that I might as well have been chipping away at a granite carving with a plastic fork.
A couple of weeks ago we had the excellent opportunity of pet and house-sitting for a family in our church while they went to Antigua for the weekend. The place was huge with fireplaces, a sauna shower, maids that came nearly every day and even an outdoor hot tub that was kept at 104 degrees! If you could bear walking across the icy snow in your bare feet (which we did) the pool of steaming water was waiting to melt you like a marshmallow in hot chocolate. Oh, and I was even allowed to use the Audi—heated seats and all! What a grand little blessing from God for Melissa and me.
However the big news of the month is that on February nineteenth, I boarded a plane and flew to Florida for a rigorous week of meeting with the parish discernment committee from the church that is sponsoring me for the priesthood. The week went well. The structural design of the meetings created an excellent atmosphere for in-depth questioning and discussion of my life and ministry. Though I had known some of the folks on the committee for quite a while, others I met for the first time and so our first assembly consisted of a light evening of conversation, laughter and enjoying a meal together. The second meeting, like the first was an enriching time of relational building as we went around the room and shared our stories, our struggles and triumphs. It was a heart-felt gathering even bringing tears to some, and an eye opener for me to have the privilege of being able to be part of the lives of some wonderful people. There could not have been chosen a finer, more thoughtful and caring group of folks with whom to complete this part of the process toward holy orders. Also during the week I was able to help out with the pancake dinner on Shrove Tuesday and assist in a church workday on Saturday to clean out the attic and I enjoyed getting to better know some of the folks on the committee in a different and less formal setting. The last few meetings involved many questions about my life, calling, gifts, and theology, past ministry experiences, strengths and areas which are in need of improvement. It was a challenging but excellent and extremely beneficial experience.
Now I am back in Massachusetts with my much missed wife. She would have loved to come to Florida with me if she could have obtained the needed time in the midst of school and work commitments. Yet, now we are back together. And so I am back to studying theology and assisting at the church and enjoying the many good people who God has given us as friends here in New England.
