February 11, 2017

Greetings My Friend, After 3 years without a Pastor we called Pastor Joe to come to our church in December. He was able to start right away and we were looking forward to his time with us and then he got sick. Pastor Joe lived near the fires near where he and Jenny lived in Gatlinburg TN and were working toward moving here. Many of their friends saw damage and they even lost some good friends in that fire. Jenny had a business she wanted to sell which the fire set things back so selling the business delayed their moving which meant Pastor Joe and Jenny found themselves traveling back and forth to finish things up and in the craziness Pastor Joe got pneumonia and wound up in the hospital. They gave him antibiotics and he was sent home only to relapse so off he went back to the hospital again. He spent the month of January sick so when he was at church today we were very happy to see him. He still looks weak but he made it through the services and joined us at the potluck after services. I am sure he has spent the afternoon resting. Junior and I enjoyed our time at the pot luck today. Ruth was there and we caught up for awhile. Then we chatted with Jody about some minor health problems and I had a chance to ask Dorothy if she would mind stopping Junior from time to time and ask him about me. Dorothy's husband has Parkinson's Disease too. Dorothy understood Junior's internal struggle and said she would ask him once in awhile. She even told me to not worry about the next phase which I do but I am more so interested in having an idea of how long the medication is working for him. Brad, Dorothy's husband has been on medication for 3 years and has been fairly much the same which helps me to understand what I need to look for. Brad is not doing anything major other than being on his feet as much as he can throughout the day. My goal is to be on my feet as much as possible and I also am attempting other exercises so I am hoping these will help me last longer before the next phase comes along. After my talk with Dorothy I saw Terri and Janet F and I chatted with them while Junior gathered up our dishes so we could leave. Since we have very little family interaction these potlucks give us that family time we long for. It is strange how a simple potluck time can minister to Junior and I but it does. We had a chance to share our joys, our struggles and I was surprised at how many people stopped by to ask how my son was doing. I had asked for him to be on the prayer list due to a fall he had. I felt loved and my concerns were validated by the people that asked about him. I felt energized to face another week of living and sharing my faith. I see the reason why we are called to meet with other believers, we can worship God in the woods, on a lake or in our house but God does not call us to be lone ranger Christians, He calls us to be in corporate worship so we can grow, learn and go out into the little area of the world we come in contact with and share how Jesus has helped us. To be honest there are times that I felt very close to God but I also need to be with believers both a church, other believers in my life or on line. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet