Tumultuous Tuesday

Tuesday was pastoral care and staff meeting. We ended up talking a lot about our chaplain since her son is gravely ill. I rearranged my time to have her meet Coop and Marcia. Then we laughed a ton. Sometimes, you just have to have humor. We joked about hooking up two parishioners for conversational reasons (They’re both big talkers). Cathy says not to pattern my ministry after her, (because she’s so goofy) but I think she’s wonderful in many regards. At staff meeting they had a good laugh over my comment that my professor was coming up to make sure that I wasn’t being abused. :) Afterward, I got a chance finally to talk to Geri about going to summer splash and my “ministry to the benches” idea. She was excited about it and jumped right on board which made me excited.

Tuesday got super crazy in a couple minutes when the phone rang and family called needing help. They had a “young man” according to Jo (which made me laugh because he was like my brother's age and I don't think of my brother as a young man) who had a brain tumor and was about to die. The wife didn’t know how to tell the 5 yr. old daughter and wanted Jo’s advice. So she had to rush off in the middle of getting random computer stuff together for Marylie to work on. Instead, I had to put my brain to work and figure out how Avery works and print a million labels off.

It came together really quickly and nicely though. We started on Tuesday and I’m super glad a) Marylie was helping and b) I was helping too because it turned out to be a large project. I printed off 150 little write ups I created *(which I’ll post too) and then 150 labels. We put 150 labels on 150 little plastic bags in which we stuffed 150 little write ups which we cut more than 150 times to get the right size. :) It took at least two hours with the two of us. Then Jo came back and she and Marylie visited while I filled out my midterm report. Afterward, Jo and I went to visit our one person in the hospital. It turned out to be an hour long visit and we missed the ability to go shopping at T. for my mom. I was a little disappointed but figured I could bide my time.

* Here's what's in the little package

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
~ John 12:3
To cleanse someone’s dirty, smelly feet is truly an act of a servant. Yet, our Lord Jesus Himself did it. As servant leaders, we should do as Mary did and pour out what is most precious to us – our time, money, talents, and love. We are to be the fragrance of life and hope. Let this vial of oil remind you both of God’s sacrifice and our response of loving service.