Day 322

about five months ago, nearly to the day, i wandered into the foyer of the church across the highway from our hotel with my duffle and rolling bag and backpack. a man greeted me and said i could just tuck all the stuff under the coat rack. i shook his hand back and said thanks.

a lady, marion, stood up that day to announce the opening for a janitor position. tyler and i laughed about the perfect timing from our seats and i got the job later that day.

now, on this last sunday morning in this church community, i felt the weight of the past five months of this place during the couple of minutes at the piano. i had walked into the sanctuary earlier and stu the sound man came up and said they had a c.d. track for offering. wanna play, being your last week and all?

yes. i would really like to. i got a coffee and my hands shook a bit. nervous? stu encouraged me by saying i was too good to be nervous. just pick a song, i told myself, you've got fifteen minutes. i can only imagine is what played when i got up there.

most of my friends were sitting a few rows up but i chose the corner seat in the back right corner next to some other friends. you can see the mountains out from the top window from this seat and from no other. i know this because i arranged and straightened these chairs countless times over the winter. this is the mountain seat.

pastor shawn prayed for tyler, the now former snowboarders-for-christ intern, and me during the service. i'm definitely gonna miss shawn and his friendship and sermons. he preached and lived love. others, like 'bill', saw it and so did i. at the end of the service several of the ladies hugged me. some of the men shook my hand and wished me luck and told me to come back soon. i gave my jar of stored winter pocket change to the lady who was specifically collecting change for a missionary. it was all coming together so well. she hugged me, too.

and after the service there was a members meeting where it was determined by an outstanding popular vote to finally change the name of the church- a process months in the making. goodbye janitor job and friends at fernie fellowship baptist church.

someday i will visit mountainside community church and feel just as at home as i have here these past five months.