Life Is Like a Friends Episode (Yet Again)

Blog readers, life is inexplicably odd. Make that odd, strange and unpredictable.

I've often said that there are many things in life that I will never understand until I get to heaven. I even keep a mental list of questions that I'll ask God when I get there so it won't drive me mad wanting to understand why right now.

Just over a week after we had our meeting in the Principal's office (er, Starbucks), we've been given a Friends moment.

In this case, episode 207: The One Where Ross Finds Out. Cut to the restaurant. Rachel calls Ross to tell him she's over him. And the Hayley-life-mimicking-Friends line is:

...and that, my friend, is what we call closure.

We were already feeling a good deal of closure after our wonderful conversation with our pastor. We realized we weren't really angry anymore. That was a miracle and a relief!

But then the unpredictable happened on Tuesday: I read about a significant part of our story that we'd been keeping private for so long, agonizing over, in the news.

Absolutely shocking.

It wasn't a secret anymore. And the response of people reading it confirmed that we weren't inflexible, culture-shocked quitter wash-outs overly concerned with proper accounting over the "real work" of ministry (yes, all of those charges were leveled at us).

What we said was wrong, tried to fix with proper procedures and eventually quit over because those with the ability to make changes wouldn't listen to us, is actually wrong. Folks who gave us poor-you-why-did-you-come-back looks are now saying, "Wow, it's worse than we could have imagined. How could this happen?"

We're not pariahs.

We don't have to justify why we quit for reasons of professional integrity.

We no longer have to explain why it's not right to do the wrong thing for the right reasons.

And that my friends, is what we call closure.

If you are interested in reading the other side of our full story, click on the following links:

Associated Baptist Press

al.com

examiner.com

Please know that even though we are marveling at the revelation of truth while we're still alive to see it, we are grieving over the impact this news could potentially have on many of our dear friends with the organization who have done nothing wrong, particularly in an economic climate where giving to charities and ministries is already down.

Mr and Mrs Hayley, Please Report to the Principal's Office

We had a call from our pastor a couple of weeks ago, asking us to get together for a quick meeting at some point in the near future. A quick glance at our overly full calendar gave us one open evening, so we agreed to meet at our local Starbucks last Monday.

I am an organized person. I am a task-list, agenda-driven person.

I had no idea what this meeting was going to be about and it nearly drove me crazy. I finally told Kelly that I felt like we'd received a note to come to the Principal's office. What would happen on the other side of the door? Was I going to be disciplined? Was I going to get a gold star? Was it progress report time? Who knew?

In reality, it wasn't a big deal at all. We'd just not had a time to sit down with our pastor and talk about the series of emotionally and spiritually trying events of the past four years. He wanted to know what had happened to us and how we were dealing with everything. It really was a wonderful thing to sit and talk about it all. Well, we talked, he listened.

I'm not sure what was most meaningful to me: that our pastor simply listened and affirmed us, or that we were able to talk about everything that happened, finally, without feeling angry or emotional.

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

We've been on the road, celebrating a marriage in the family this weekend. I have much in my mind to write about, but not a spare moment to type it.

Instead, I thought I'd share just a few photos of the post-tornado home of some dear long-time family friends, the Kobiskies. Please keep them, and all of the families and businesses affected by last week's tornado in your prayers.

While you pray, remember that love is expressed in action.

How can you help those who are dealing with a "tornado" in their lives right now?

Remember the Golden Rule of Parties

It's not "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." At a party, the Golden Rule is "Never talk about religion or politics."

Especially at mixed-denomination religious events!

We had a great time at the Adat-Shalom's Seder on Friday with our friends. The meal was wonderful, as always, and the congregation did a great job of patiently walking through the Seder with all of the Gentiles in the room.

I took a photo of our table's Seder plate to show you the six essential items: parsley, bitter herbs (aka horseradish), roasted egg, lamb shankbone, matzah and charoset (a sweet apple mixture, not pictured). The other items on our table are salt water (used for dipping the parsley) and the four cups (though we used only one cup, drinking from it four times).

If you're interested in reading more about how these items are used in the Seder, and particularly more about the symbolism in this ancient feast for Christians, I encourage you to read here: http://www.messianicseder.com/messianic_haggadah.html.

But back to my original topic - it's best when you are in a mixed crowd to avoid making strong pronouncements about non-essential items, unlike a tablemate of ours who was determined to convince all of us that one certain Bible translation is the only acceptable Bible translation. Poor Kelly had the misfortune of being the closest seatmate and could not gracefully pull out of the conversation until the Seder got underway!

So today's tip: Remember the Golden Rule of Parties.

(And we had a good time anyway!!!)