Ever since 2008 I have had the privilege of serving as a United Methodist pastor.

During my time of service the congregations and I worshipped together, and we praised the Lord together.

We studied the Bible together and we learned together.

We cried together and we laughed together. And of course, like most churches, we ate together…..again and again.

And some of us even went to Weight Watchers together.

We’ve prayed together and we’ve prayed for one another. We’ve knelt at the altar together. And we have received Holy Communion together. And we grew deeper in love with Jesus together.

We’ve stood at the bedside of sick loved-ones together…and we’ve stood at the graveside of loved-ones together too.

We have celebrated our children’s accomplishments together….and we have wept together over our children’s failures.

We have grown in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ….together.

We’ve talked on the phone together, and we’ve communicated by e-mail and text messages and on Facebook together.

We have gone on retreats together….and we have gone on mission trips together.

We have hunted for petrified wood together….and we’ve eaten Navajo tacos together.

Serving as a UMC pastor has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

Over the years I labored among them, and I have grown to love the people of the congregations and have made many life-long friends.

In the last 15 years, the folks listened to me preach hundreds of sermons. Some of them actually listened….some took notes…some of them fell asleep….and some of them thought about where they were going for lunch.

In the last 15 years, I’ve preached a number of spouse’s funerals….or a parent’s funeral….and sadly, I’ve preached a child’s funeral.

We have shared memories together…..and we cried together…. and sometimes we laughed through our tears together.

In the last 15 years, I have baptized adults and children. And I have performed wedding ceremonies for young couples, and even not-so-young couples

The last 15 years have been action packed and eventful years for all of us.

Personally, I have had open-heart surgery, with 9 other surgeries to follow that, and I lost more than 100 pounds.

And I became a grandfather 3 times; and I was privileged to baptize all three of those beautiful little girls.

In the last 15 years, there have been tragedies and there have been triumphs. We have all had our ups and we all have had our downs.

And we went through it all together.

King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:2-8 A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.”

I have had the God-given privilege of pastoring two churches in the last 15 years, and now I am pastoring just one.

I thank God that He has called me to serve as a pastor. It is a joy to be of service to such great people.

And I thank God that I have the privilege of ministering to this community through the Musings and Memories, column every week too.

I consider it the greatest of all honors to be a minister of the Gospel. And I praise Him with all my heart.

Thank you all for giving me a place in your hearts and minds.

I am praying for you, and I humbly ask that you pray for me as well.

God’s Richest Blessings for you in this New Year. Amen.