This new year's week end I felt like I was in a time warp, being transported back a quarter of a century, back to a ministry I left behind for other things. Friday I conducted a funeral for the mother a member of that time. Then last night, we gathered at the home of other former members with a group which was once the Couple's Club of that congregation. It was like, hey, nothing's changed!
Frankly, I was kind of tentative about the evening in the first place. At least four hours with nothing to do but talk, eat and drink. Since I don't want to devote major time in the new year taking off excess weight, I didn't want to do much of the eating and drinking. We had spent the previous evening playing penny poker. Cards are fun and a challenge and take time. But we weren't going to being doing that on New Year's Eve. Four hours! That's a lot of time to fill.
Catching up turned out to be interesting and fun. Lots of little factoids. Some not printable. Daughter of one family earns a living making and selling pillows on eBay. Another in the group is stocking pills just in case... Still another is working with substance abuse. He says detox for alcoholics can be completed in a couple weeks. It might take a month for someone to kick marijuana. But to get anywhere with victims of meth, it's going to take nine months.
Our Couple's Club friendships have survived over 25 years. Death already visited our church family in the 70's. It claimed only one or two since. We are birds of a feather who flock together. While we are hardly on the same political wave length, there is a shared view of human worth and a reverence for God at work. We value faithfulness.
I've warped back to 2006, but I'm looking forward to a good year. Hope you are too!
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