PREFACE to AFTER THE STORM

72 is the new 47. I have a difficult time grasping the speed with which the last 25 years have passed.

By God’s grace, I have lived a full life; fuller than most perhaps. But it hasn’t always been easy. If I were to be totally honest, the last 25+ years have been tough. Yes, the years, while filled with a lot of blessing, grace and joy, have also brought plenty of heartaches, losses, and challenges. No one is immune; least of all me.

For those who may not have read our first book, may I take this opportunity to briefly tell you the occasion that prompted Judy and I to co-write “THROUGH STORMY WATERS: God’s Peace in Life’s Storms.”  That book was a labor of love and I do mean labor. We quickly learned how difficult it is to write with interest, honesty, creativity, and good grammar. We grew to appreciate those amazing people who seem to crank out books on a regular basis. Our book was a labor because we were trying to do it while working full time jobs that demanded more than an average amount of time and stress. Judy was an elementary school teacher; I was a pastor.

Writing it was a labor of love. When we finally decided we needed to do something with this tale, re realized that we would have to just go away someplace free of busy distractions. We were fortunate enough to own a boat with separate spaces where we could each take our laptops and write our pre-assigned chapters. And so, in 2006, we boarded “Providence” and tied up at the docks in a secluded marina in south Puget Sound. We told the story of my life-changing accident in an alternating style that allowed us to tell the story from both our perspectives. Doing so further reinforced the reality that the promise to love each other “in sickness and in health” we had spoken to each other 25 year earlier, though severely tested, was still true.

This was our story (and we’re sticking to it)!

 In the late spring of 1997, I was run over by a bus. Yes, you read that right. I literally was hit by our church bus and then dragged underneath and scraped across the graveled unimproved part of our church parking lot for nearly 40 feet. While this grinding, crushing, scraping nightmare was occurring, it seemed like an eternity. In reality, as with most accidents it all happened in a matter of a minute or two. When the grinding, bumping, scraping finally stopped, I was left face down on the concrete basketball court, unable to move. Period. Nothing. Arms. Legs, hands, feet, all numb and immovable. I had the realization that I was paralyzed  and may never walk again. I also worried that I might not see Judy or our daughters Kresta and Melissa ever again.

14 weeks later, when I was wheeled out of Rio Vista Rehabilitation Hospital in El Paso, life had been altered forever. My life. Judy’s life. Our family’s life. The church I had served for 14 years (Northminster Presbyterian Church in Las Cruces, NM) had been forever impacted and altered. The church to which I had just accepted a call to serve (Calvary Presbyterian Church in Enumclaw, WA) had also been affected The leadership and Pastor Search Committee had to rethink and alter their plans to accommodate my convalescence and recovery. Like ripples in a pond after a stone has been thrown, I didn’t know if I could even begin to calculate how far those ripples may have extended. We were to soon find out.

One of the chapters in our first book was headed by this quote: Life Happens When You Have made Other Plans.”  That is exactly what happened to us: LIFE. And so, even though this accident occurred in 1997, life happened and we were living a “new normal.”  In the back of our minds, however, we were inescapably convinced that something greater had to come from our experience.

A friend and colleague who had visited me in the hospital had written this verse from Psalm 118:10 on a card as his prayer, as a promise, a challenge: “You will not die but will surely live and proclaim what the Lord has done.”

Sharing what the Lord had done for us. That was our sincere intent. That was our plan. We knew we had to tell this story. Then life happened. Our daughters got married. Grandsons came along. Cameron, our first-born grand was still-born in 1999. Sam and Davis came along in the year 2000. My mother died in 1999 as well. My older sister Barbara died in 2002. Joseph was adopted and brought home from the hospital in 2005.Life was happening. We were busy and active.  Writing took a back seat. Both Judy and I had vivid, if different memories, lots of notes, and disabilities to keep the story always in our minds.

It wasn’t until 2006 that we actually took time to sit and write a complete manuscript. But the original chronicle stalled for lack of a publisher and some honest but helpful critique. It wasn’t until 2013 that a friend with a small publishing company in Washington encouraged us to finish the book and get it “out there.”  We did. We let out a huge, collective sigh. It was finally in print!

There it was - a labor born of love; an insatiable love as a married couple; love of immediate family; of friends and support of our church family. The body of Christ. God with Skin.

As a bald-face promotion of our earlier book, (“Through Stormy Waters: Experiencing God’s Peace in Life’s Storms”) I invite you to read it in order to understand the full story. It is the context for what you are about to read.

In 1974, we were living in Bellevue, Washington when we attended Bill Gothard’s Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts. I found that I gleaned very little from the conference. However, one thing stands out. They gave each person attending a button that was emblazoned with the letters PBPWMGINFWMY (Please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet).

In my years in ministry, I have done street ministry on the streets of Chicago. I have done campus ministry. I have worked with church youth groups. I led high adventure hikes, long distance bicycle trips, and taken mission groups to serve in some of the most difficult places. I have served  3 churches in an ordained capacity and as a retired pastor I have volunteered and served in at least three others.   Have had to deal with critics and “irregular” people – or as Rick Warren described such people “EGRs” meaning extra grace required.

Sometimes, I felt that leading church people could best be described as “herding cats.” It takes patience and, admittedly, my patience was often worn thin. To my shame, I didn’t show others as much grace and patience as I expected in return.

The Apostle Paul lists patience as one part of the undeniable Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24)and as part of the new nature we as Jesus followers are asked to wear like a garment (Colossians 3:12-14).

I am first to admit that I would not be described by people who know me as being a patient person. And, since my accident, I find that I am becoming increasingly impatient.

I  can freely admit that GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH ME YET.

And so, I need patience.

I have often asked people to be patient with me. At times, they have offered grace, patience and forgiveness even when I have not sought it out. It is a deeply humbling process of receiving extended grace and patience from others. The most impatient person with what has happened, who I am, and what I hope to become in the unknown future, is me. I can be pretty hard on myself. Judy is really good about reminding me I need to be patient and forgiving with myself

When I had been run over and deposited broken, bruised and critically ill, I was sure God was finished with me. But God still had more life for me to live; more ministry to accomplish, and more opportunities to declare what the Lord had done for me. In the ensuing years since 1997, I have had to learn to set aside my impatience and live into that truth.

How has this been working out for me? Well, that is the topic of this biographical sequel to “THROUGH STORMY WATERS.”

To paraphrase the news commentator Paul Harvey, “Now the rest of the story.”