Two weeks ago Dan and I found out that the head pastor at our church and his family are leaving. For those of you that do not know, Dan has been the youth pastor at Crossroads for six years. He has also been the Children's Ministry director for the last two years and wears many many other hats at the church. To say that Dan is "involved" in our church is a gross understatement. Of course it is his job but it is also his passion. Working full time in a part time position is incredibly demanding in addition to pouring in countless extra hours ministering to people and trying his best to serve others. It takes a special type of person to do that job and Dan fits it like a snug glove. But it is exhausting.
When I joined Crossroads almost five years ago it took me approximately three months before I was plugged into a small group and began helping Dan in the youth ministry. There is a lot of history between then and now but basically, Crossroads is what brought the two of us together. God weaving our lives this way and that until we landed in the same place. Then he molded our hearts for several years until they were ready for each other. Through it all, Crossroads has been home. For both of us.
That's why the news of our pastor leaving is so hard. It is too exhausting to get into the details of what the next few months will look like, partially because we don't know. We've had hard nights and periods of deep worry and grieving, and it's only been a few weeks. When I think about it, to me it feels like Dan and I just got done swimming laps for months leading up to the wedding and now that we made it past that event we get thrown into the deep end of the pool and have to tread water with our clothes on. Can't we just sit on beach chairs and tan? I'm so tired already.
But despite what we want and what we think would be easier, we agreed Crossroads is still our home. Bay Ridge is where we want to live. And we want to stick it out no matter the outcome - together.
Pray for us people of the invisible blog following world. We'll need extra energy, extra patience, and extra courage to dive into what we have ahead of us. For those that don't know all the details about our church and our lifestyle it might not seem like that big of a deal. For those that do...you know...it's going to be tough.
Last week when I was feeling low and covered with grief and worry for the future a song popped up on Pandora. The tune connected with how I was feeling and regardless of how not applicable the lyrics are I latched onto that song and I have played it no less than 100 times since. It makes me feel better. I'll share it here so you can enjoy it as well.
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