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September 26, 2004
Sad Goodbyes
O and I traveled back to Greensburg (where we both grew up and his parents still live) this morning for a special church service/celebration for the pastor of our home church. Pastor D and his family are moving to a new church in West Virginia and today was his last Sunday preaching in Greensburg. It was a beautiful day for a farewell party.
Pastor D has been at First Baptist Church for the past 14 years, but prior to his service there, his father was the pastor of the church. He is extremely well liked and everyone (including myself) was very sad to see him go. Although O and I are now members of a church where we live, we both truly enjoy heading back to Greensburg every once in a while and on holidays to hear Pastor D speak. Of all the churches I've been to and been apart of, I've never felt as at home as I do at First Baptist.
I've only known Pastor D for about 5 years (I started going to the church when O and I started dating) and I feel very attached to him. I can't imagine how the people who have know him for 30 years feel! It was an emotional day for sure. I was thinking to myself during the celebration how important a pastor becomes to people. Obviously they are spiritual leaders, but they are there for the highest and lowest points of people's lives, funerals, weddings, baptisms, and every Sunday in between. Pastor D played an integral role in my coming to know Jesus Christ as my savior, he baptized me when I was 20 years old and he married O and I. He will be missed for sure, but at the same time I'm very happy for the people of Phillipi, West Virginia that now have an amazing leader for their church!
Driving back and forth to Greensburg (about an hour each way) and the service/party pretty much took up the whole day. I still managed to sneak in a 1.5 hour nap though. :) I didn't run, as is my usual custom on Sundays. I was still feeling yesterday's long run this morning. I stretched well and used my foam roller so hopefully I'll be recovered for tomorrow's workout!
I was excited to see the results of the college invitationals this weekend. It seemed like this was the first big weekend of the season, with Roy Griak, Stanford, Iona and Paul Short. Penn State ran so-so at Minnesota. Huge races like that one are always hard to sort through. I can't believe it will be October by the end of this week. Fall really is here!
Posted by beth at September 26, 2004 7:02 PM