One More Step

It's been about two years since Toni and I have really felt "settled."  At some point after the August 2009 ELCA vote* it became apparent to us that the life we had known for 25 years was coming to an end.  It wasn't until February of 2011 that we actually moved from the Cokato ELCA parsonage but there has certainly been a sense of being off balance since 2009. 

Not that it's been all bad.  Being thrown off balance has caused us to cling in a deeper way to the source of our faith, to God Himself.  We and our family have learned and grown spiritually through this time, and so have many others who have been part of the ELCA.

Beginning after my August 2010 resignation from the Cokato ELCA church we started to pack things away.  I am a bit ashamed to admit that my wife ended up doing the lion's share of that packing as both of us struggled spiritually and in other ways.  I wrote and studied and prayed (a lot), did some job searching, commuted back and forth two days a week to Minneapolis beginning in January for a class (Psychology and the Church) and connected with friends and colleagues.  In February we moved to Dave and Barb Yeager's home and then in March we moved to a rented farm house three miles north of town.

The "one more step" today is to go back out to the farm to work on finishing the cleaning there.  It will be so good to get this taken care of.  All of this time of being unbalanced has taken time away from my pastoral work, and I'm looking forward to a better focus on that. 

Of course, just getting the farmhouse and garage out there cleaned out doesn't mean the move is done.  Far from it.  We've still got boxes stacked on the floor of the garage here in own that need to be put up on something so they don't get wet with the Minnesota melting slush that will surely soon be falling off our car and van.  I've told Toni that it will take a year to get completely settled.  Hopefully that's an exaggeration, but still, it's good to think we'll get one more step taken care of today.

What's the one more step that God is calling you to work on today?  There's no sense worrying about tomorrow.  One day at a time is enough.

* click this link to be reminded what that was about.

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