May 12, 2011
Journal
WE MADE IT! We arrived yesterday afternoon at Fairfax, VA, to Lord of Life Lutheran Church. I say “yesterday afternoon” because today is actually Friday, May 13, and we are on the highway driving back to Juno Beach, FL. Last night got way too late to still write a journal and devotion. The day of bike riding was uneventful. I continued to ride 63 miles through the Shenendoah Valley. Then time ran out and we drove the rest of the way into Fairfax to the church. This was a very special day for Martina and I. Not only was it our goal destination and it meant the end of our ride, but the pastor of this congregation is very special to me. When I was 16 years old and my home pastor Ed Simonsen encouraged me to become a pastor I then turned to two other pastors who I knew well and respected, Pastor Ron Qualley and Pastor Albert Schmidt of Grace Lutheran Church in Miami Springs. I asked them what they thought about Pastor Ed’s recommendation. They both agreed and gave me some very helpful advice. They encouraged me to seek out another career that I would enjoy doing should I at some point decide I did not want to be a pastor. That is how I ended up getting my masters degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and worked for 5 years in the business. That education and those experiences have been very helpful to me in the pastoral ministry. Now, 38 years later I had the opportunity to be with Pastor Ron Qualley again. Since he was at Grace in Miami Springs, he accepted the call to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Fairfax. Pastor Ron and his wife Sandy were very gracious to us. They invited us to their home for a celebration dinner and a shower before we were expected at Lord of Life for our final presentation of the Village of Hope. The reality is the people of Lord of Life Lutheran know much more about the Village of Hope than I do. This congregation sponsors over 90 children and last year gave $100,000 to the new health center. Along with years of being generous donors to the VOH many of the members have visited and served at the VOH. Pastor Ron is on the board of directors for the VOH. So as we showed the slide presentation to the gathered LOL members they were able to share with me information about the pictures I had no idea of. I should have visited this congregation first to get all the facts. It was a fun evening. I am so thankful to the people of LOL for their strong support and leadership over many years at the VOH. Because of them many other congregations have come on board and have had life changing experiences at VOH. They were grateful to Martina and I for our two week mission of sharing the VOH story. Martina and I left LOL around 9:30 PM and drove for 2 hours so that we could escape the Washington DC and Richmond, VA traffic. As we are driving home and I am pondering the last two weeks there is a part of me that is sad that the journey is over. The exercise was awesome. 700 miles of pedaling in 12 days has put me in the best shape of my life. I lost 13 pounds which means I am back to my college days weight. We’ll see how long that lasts! I will miss the opportunities of meeting new people each day, at new churches I have never been to before in communities I had never visited before. I will miss the beautiful forests and rivers and lakes and farms that we rode by. There is also the other part of me that is glad the journey is over. We are glad to be going home, to be with our family, church and friends and to get back to our life routines. Once again we realize how fortunate and blessed we are. We traveled 700 miles without any sickness or injury. We had no bicycle flats or breakdowns. Everywhere we were, we were received with special kindness and care. We had the opportunity to do something very unique for a wonderful and life changing cause. And now we get to go home, to people, a home and a calling that we love. God is good, all the time!
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