One year ago this fine group saw my potential and on behalf of RMC, invited me to be Rainbow’s pastoral candidate. Of course some of them left promptly on vacation and weren’t even there the Sunday I preached! Anyone who has been on a search committee knows that those vacations were well-deserved.

We gathered for a meal on June 1 in part so I could give a little speech entitled “Things you failed to mention…”

Here are just a few of the highlights, along with a few more I’ve thought of recently:

• My first pastoral requests would include: Helping someone apply for U.S. citizenship, helping a couple with an adoption-related grant, and visiting with local law enforcement! Don’t worry, it wasn’t me breaking the law.
• Trains, trains and more trains and hills, hills and more hills
• That EVERY major snowfall this winter would occur on a Saturday night
• That sometimes ads for chicken become part of the Sunday morning worship experience
• That so many fine people would be moving away during my first year
• That Steve Goeke would be the kind of banjo player that Jesse could only dream to have in his life
• That when you JOKINGLY send Rosi a link to something called “Bethlehemian Rhapsody,” the next thing you know it’s happening
• That you serve some of the best, strongest coffee
• That I would see deer regularly on my short commute to church (and that I would get hit by frisbees when I go through Rosedale Park)
• That 270 people would be in attendance at Easter
• That I would be the proud owner of FOUR beautiful Rainbow scarves. Why stop there?

And finally, they failed to mention that on June 6, 2014 Jesse and I would feel profound gratitude for where we are at and what is ahead. Thank you Bob, Ky, Gail, Mike, Duane, Natasha, and Karen. And thank you to the family members and friends who endured the LONG meetings and who respected the need for confidentiality through this process.

The search committee didn’t have the nerve to tell me what I failed to mention to them during the interview. We’ll save that for evaluation time.