New Year, New Church

A friend of mine called me on Saturday and asked me how J and I spent our New Year's Eve. My initial thought was, "Why is she asking me about something that happened ages ago?" until my brain kicked into gear, joined me in the present time and I realized that it had actually only been about a week since the beginning of 2010!

It makes me feel really cliched about time flying and everything.

Our year has truly gotten off to a great start. As a matter of fact, the biggest news I've overlooked sharing on the ole blawg is that J started pastoring a small church in the area.

The church is not quite as, um...progressive as we have imagined his first pastorate might be, considering that our young family of five lowers the average age of the attending members to approximately 75, but we are falling in love with the people there.

The interview process for J was quite rigorous and consisted of the church's "assistant director" asking J if he'd like to come preach on a permanent basis on Sunday mornings, and if he would, then did he think he could also throw in Wednesday nights as well?

You betcha! And so it was.

January 11 was our second official Sunday to be Pastor and Wife (Or third if you count the first real Sunday, but I don't because services were cancelled due to the church's heater running out of butane. In winter. In record-setting cold temps. It was much too brutal for the elderly.).

But this past Sunday will forever go down in the books as the day Jason made his Rookie Pastor Mistake #1.

(Hey, I'm only trying to edify the body here and help anyone from making a similar mistake in the future.)

(And I love you, Jason! Even though I'm blogging about you! I blog because I love! I think you're doing a fabulous job at this pastor thing!)

So keep this in mind:

If you're new to leading a congregation and someone tells you that one of your shut-in/homebound members is turning 90 that week, BEFORE you encourage your people to send cards and notes of encouragement to said member, you might want to check to make sure that member is not comatose.

Bless J's heart. He meant well. J just wanted this sheep in his flock to feel loved on a monumental day. It just never crossed his radar to think to ask if the guy was conscious and responsive.

They informed him after the service (Once again, information that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY! (name that movie)). After J had made a huge deal out of sending the guy notes, including that J HIMSELF was going to go straight home and pen a few uplifting words.

Turns out, that's not going to be necessary.

I'm sure we'll make a million more faux--... (I don't know the plural of faux pas- faux pass?) Whatever. Mistakes. WE'LL MAKE THEM.

It's going to be a hilarious year.