Our pastor takes a call, he will be missed!

Dear Family and Friends,
11:30, how did it get so late again? Of course I napped so many times this afternoon that going to bed this late may not be a problem at all.
This week I received an email from my beloved church in Tracy. It was a message from Jim indicating that he and Jeannie will be leaving the pastorate in Tracy and taking up the pulpit in Galt. While we are sure Galt will be delighted we are saddened to see Jim leave us. We have been blessed with such good pastors in John and Karen, then Ed and Ann and most recently Jim and Jeannie. Solid preaching, good leadership and warm friendship has marked all three of these delightful families.
I have a very warm memory of Jim coming on two different occasions to hold prayer and anointing services for Nan, one was when we were desperately searching for the "next" step after tumors had returned. Having been denied surgery in Houston at MD Anderson we were frantically reaching out, Jim and the elders came to pray and anoint and within days Nan was accepted into the Sugen, to later be named Sutent trial at City of Hope. That trial ended up giving us 18 precious months of control before it finally failed allowing some tumors to rapidly grow again. Jim communicated with Nan through phone calls and visits many times and gave her peace and a special awareness of God's care for her. Jim and Jeannie are blessed with a very special bedside manner and Nan felt comfortable sharing some of her thoughts and concerns. I will always remember Jim's pastoral care, in a way he stood for the whole church family and he treated our family with respect and loving concern. I personally will miss his wisdom and love for the Tracy church family. My prayer is that God will continue to bless he and Jeannie along with their family as they continue to live and work for their Lord.
In the life of a church family there are a few key appointments that make or break a ministry. Members of a church like Tracy are very gentle with their pastors, I know, I was one for 10 years there but there are a few special events, moments that are key and becoming aware when someone is not doing well and then acting is crucial in the cycle of ministry and church family life. All of the pastors we have had were tuned to the members needs in special ways. It is interesting to compare the training we received in the seminary in some of the classes about a pastor needing to remain aloof from the members, don't get to close or you won't be taken seriously as a pastor, don't socialize too much, don't become to close or care too much. In comparison to that Nan and I allowed the Tracy church family to love us and we loved them. And each pastor that has come has chosen to become close, to go camping, to go fishing, to work side by side and through the process to become much more effective in ministering to the real needs of the people. I'm sure there are many very special church families in the church but I've never seen one that cares and loves better than Tracy. There have been so many special people in the pews, people who were wealthy, poor, most in between but it mattered not, it was the hearts that cared. What a special place to belong, the Tracy SDA Church.
Today I attended church in Loma Linda, I woke late, walked the dogs to the park, took forever to get my steel cut oats just right and then they were very very good and lost track of the time until it was too late to make it to church so I settled into the recliner and turned on the Donna Want memorial dish and enjoyed video church. What a real blessing the dish has been, great music from around the world, excellent preaching and mission programs with Dick Duerkson that just make you want to grab a flight and go help build churches.
This evening I went by Nikki and Steve's. I had found an earphone for hands free cell phone use and since Nikki has not found any device yet to comply with the law now in effect I thought perhaps it would work in her phone. Her phone is so old that the device didn't work but while there we decided to go to the CornFest in Brentwood. We only caught the last 1/2 hour but enjoyed walking around in the cool evening air and seeing all the booths and lights. Kallie took it all in and Keanna enjoyed some pink lemonade.
Marilyn reports that she will be free to fly west in about a week. I'm looking forward to her coming and I think she is ready for a vacation in the west. It will be fun.

Take care my family and friends,

love

tim