Way back in 1991Suzanne and I celebrated ten years of ministry at Bonavista Baptist Church in Calgary. It was a wonderful congregation, very loving and appreciative of the work we did there, and they went all out to make the celebration very special. Our parents were invited to come down from Edmonton and some of the pastors in the Denomination attended. They also decided to give us a gift, but wanting to be sure it was exactly the right gift, they asked a few committee members to check out how we would feel about a trip to Israel.
Obviously, we were overwhelmed. But when they asked if there was anything at all that might be better, and insisted they really wanted to know, I plucked up my courage and said, “As wonderful as ministry is, it has a great impact on family life. Our kids have been a huge part of our work here, so, rather than sending Suzanne and me away on a trip, might it be possible to do something that would include the children?”
If I hurt their feeling in suggesting an alternative they certainly didn’t show it. They seemed delighted, and in the brief discussion that followed it was determined that our entire family would receive a trip of a different sort. Thus, we became known in Calgary as the pastoral couple who traded a trip to the Holy Land for a trip to Disneyland.
I share this story now because a few months ago some friends from Calgary, friends who were an important part of that tenth anniversary celebration, called us to ask if we would come as their guests on a trip to Israel. This time the kids were not a factor, so tomorrow morning, thanks to Katie and Henry’s amazing generosity, Suzanne and I will be at the North Bay airport preparing to board a plane for Toronto where, tomorrow afternoon, we’ll board another for the land where three of the worlds great religions were born.
I won’t be blogging for a while, but I will be gathering material for future posts. We’re looking forward to spending a couple of weeks with this wonderful couple, another dear friend from Calgary, and others we will meet on the trip. And, of course, we’re very excited about seeing the places we’ve spent our lives teaching about. And it all comes at just the right time for us.
As Job’s not so good friend, Eliphaz, said, “We are born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward”, so even we who have little to complain about can find ourselves in need of renewal from time to time. The last few years, as we’ve been stumbling into retirement, have been personally discouraging; several friends are struggling with what Shakespeare called “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”; and this past week a fellow pastor, a man we’ve known since before we were married, lost his wife of 52 years in the most heartbreaking, tragic accident you could ever imagine. We are aching for him and his family, and working through our own struggles. Yes, we need to be renewed.
The Bible, far from being a repository of Sunday School lessons for children, is an odyssey of the most heartbreaking tragedy, and an awful lot of stumbling and discouragement. And yet it remains a story of triumph. So it stands to reason, I suppose, that the land where it all happened might be the place to go to sort life out. We'll see. Looking forward to sharing what we’ve learned when we get back.
