April 8 – “The aftermath”

As I have made my way around town over the last few days, I have been surprised to run into some unexpected people.  Well, it was not so much the people, but the connection that was so surprising.  On Monday I went to the Central fire station for a meeting with the chief and a lady who has purchased and completed renovations on the home of the guy who was fire chief during the 1900 storm.  How’s that for a little piece of history?  She is having an open house and wants the chief to share some history and me to pray a blessing.  Sounds like fun.  While I was waiting for her to arrive, I met the lady who will be filling in for Trish, the fire department administrative assistant.  She had surgery yesterday and will be gone for six weeks.  The temp lady was very pleasant, and asked where in the building was my office.  Never thought about having an actual chaplain’s office.  I explained that I was a volunteer, so I worked from my home office or from the church where I am pastor.  That seemed to intrigue her.  She paused for a moment, then asked what church.  I replied “Seaside Church out in Jamaica Beach.”  She grinned and answered, “I went to your sunrise service yesterday.  It was beautiful.”  And the sunrise service was our topic of conversation until the appointment arrived.  Didn’t see that one coming at all.

After the meeting I went downstairs to talk to the fire fighters on duty.  Kenny was in the captain’s office on the computer, so I stopped in on him.  And the first thing he said?  “We really enjoyed the sunrise service yesterday.”  I must have looked surprised, because he continued on, “We were the ones in the chairs with the canopies on them.  Didn’t do us much good, though.  The rain was blowing sideways.”  Once again, a brief conversation ensued about the service.  Not at all what I expected, but I really enjoyed the chat. 

We don’t always receive much “aftermath” feedback from events like that service.  Sometimes it makes me wonder if we should press on.  But these little affirmations sure make all the work seem more worthwhile.  So next year maybe we could …

Nehemiah 9:17 says, “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

Father, thank you for the feedback.  May the aftermath of you invading people’s lives be way more effective than was the actual event.  Amen.