We have the pleasure of having our own family minister! My father in law, Dr. Mark Henry Miller (or Grandpa Mark as he prefers to be called now) is a minister who has served with the United Church of Christ for over 30 years. He has also served for over ten years as a Conference Minister in the South Central Conference of the UCC in Austin and as Transitional Interim Conference Minister in the Pacific Northwest Conference of the UCC.
Recently he became the Interim Senior Minister for the First Christian Church of San Marcos so we've had the pleasure of watching him in action.
September 20th was the first time we attended church as a family w/ our sons. They have a LOVELY nursery for children of all different ages. The room that J&A go play in is for 12 month olds-2 year olds. We've never left the kids under the care of a stranger before so we weren't sure how they were going to handle it if we up and left. Well, they were too busy having a great time, they didn't even notice!
Our first week, there is a part in service where they ask the children of the church to help collect the donated food item and bring them up to the front of the church and then they have a short lesson for the children. Aiden has always been a great grocery helper so he bounced out of the pew, grabbed a BIG bag of canned goods and started (literally) dragging it up the aisle and up the steps to hand it to Grandpa Mark. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen and many of the members of the church awed in unison.
We felt so welcomed and loved there that we went back this past Sunday as well. At both services, I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if Grandpa Mark always starts out with this line, but he said, "It is important to know that God does NOT keep track of all of our mistakes." I don't know why that simple sentence speaks VOLUMES to me, but it does. Each of the services we've been to have also dealt with children and how they fit into our lives and what it all means. Both times, I have found myself weeping over the truly BEAUTIFUL things that were being said.
This week a member of the church got up to speak about what that church meant to HER. She talked about how her church wasn't just walls and pews. It's not just a building. It's all the wonderful people in it that give her hope and drive to go on. She said, "Seeing little children struggle down the aisles with bags of food gives me hope." MY mother in law looked at me and gave me a knowing smile as if saying, "You know, she's talking about MY grandbabies." (She loves the grandmother ownership and we love her for it) It was at that moment, the waterworks started again. Did I just hear that correctly? Did a complete stranger just tell me that MY children gave HER hope? I've always known that my children are extra special...I mean, just look at 'em. But to hear those words from a complete stranger just made it all crystal clear. I am home. I am where I need to be. And it feels wonderful.
