SPECIAL DAY

Today is the 30th anniversary of my ordination!
I can't believe it has been 30 years. I really don't feel that old and yet, there are days.
I wish that I was a bit more settled in my ministry - I believed that 30 years ago. However, God, had other plans for me and made me to wander through these years and through my ministry. I do not know what the future holds or where I will be serving, but I do know this; God will lead and guide me, I have but to trust God.
  It has been a long and varied journey, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, some expected and some unexpected but through it all I have been held in God's hands and care, even when I thought I was on the very edges of existence, I have never been beyond the reach of God's gracious care.\
  It will be a quiet day and cold - more like January than November.
   I don't remember all that much of that Sunday so many years ago, except that my home church which had been torched by an arsonist (for housing a minority low-income day care center) was not the place of my ordination. It was at a neighboring Presbyterian Church and the pastor who had been our church's pastor for 38 years was there, as well as the interim pastor who became our pastor.
My folks were there and my sister along with her husband and their baby girl, my niece, now in med school. My sister gifted me with a red silk stole with embroidered flames on it that I still wear. My parents gifted me with a black pulpit robe. I wore a green suit and an opal ring my parents gave me for Seminary graduation.
   A month later, we all headed to Switzerland to celebrate my Grandma's 85th birthday and then upon my return, I moved to OH and my folks moved to Florida. I have been here ever since. Only my sister stayed in IL.
  I remember being very self-conscious, feeling unworthy, yet knowing there was this call from God. I had completed all my education, passed the Standard Ordination Exams all in one try.
  There are times I still question and struggle with my call, but largely God and I have been at peace with one another and it is only by God's power that I have served for these 30 years in God's service. I pray that there are a few more years left to serve and to bring Christ and God's kingdom a littler nearer to whoever God places before me. I pray God's Spirit will help me to be effective. I pray to continue to be a faithful servant of my Lord and Savior.