Footsteps in a new direction

Today, I went to my old home church to say good bye to someone I met nine years ago.
Let me back track... As of this posting I attend a Baptist church.  I did attend a Methodist church for several years, and it was there I met my friend Rick Sitton.
  In a Baptist church, pastors only leave if they die, retire, get mad or voted out.. but the Methodist denomination will move pastors to different churches at their discretion.  This is not really a bad thing, just slightly painful sometimes.
I remember Pastor Rick's very first sermon, and I will not soon forget his last at Woodcrest UMC.  In both, he talked about "feet".  Nine years ago, he was walking into something, and today he was walking away from a church that he loved and that loved him.  He encouraged the church to keep walking in Christ,
He reminded us that he had only been the pastor, Woodcrest will still be Woodcrest.  Our eyes need to stay focused on Jesus, and our feet need to follow Jesus.
A lot has happened in the nine years since I met this sweet man of God.  Though one thing remains the same... Jesus is still the head of the church.  We may not all be pastors, but we are all ministers.
(I learned that from Pastor Rick)
Odds are, I wont see Rick Sitton again on this side of heaven.... but see him again I will!!
I wish I could thank him for the many things he taught me and helped me though, but, there are simply no words I feel would be adequate for this situation.   Ok.. maybe  "thank you" is appropriate, but still not adequate. 
I also was blessed today, to watch this Pastor baptize, welcome new members, and finally, his last act as pastor, communion.  As I walked forward and recieved the bread and wine,, (the Body and the Blood) I felt blessed to be served by this man and his wife.  Joyfully I realized, while circumstances change, and pastors get relocated... divorce happens, marriages, births, and deaths. Earthly things will change... but God will not.  Communion will never mean something different, it will always be about "remembering" what was done for us.
So really..... what a day!   And as I  finally stop rambling, I am thrilled to realize, addresses and circumstances change, but this is not really a new "beginning" for Pastor Rick, it is simply a continuation of  footsteps that follow our Lord.

What I am

I am a singer, I am a hairstylist, I am a wife, I am a mother, I am many things.  Seriously though, of everything I am, the most important thing, is LOVED.  I am loved.  I am adored by the very one who created me.  I  can't do anything to lose His love, because, I never did anything to gain His love.
Here is the thing though, I was raised in a "religious" enviroment.  Now  religion  is not a bad thing.  It is actually a truly AWFUL thing.  Religion will take you where love can not.  Religion told me if I loved God, I would live a holy life.  Love taught me, I could never be "holy" enough and I could never manage to be good enough on my own.. I am righteous through Jesus.  The blood Jesus shed, the blood that washes away  my sin, that blood is what God sees when He looks at me.  Quite simply, when God looks at me... He sees Jesus.
So I am learning, I can't love what I fear.  I am learning, to chose the love that I was given.  To be able to shout from the inner recesses of my heart...I AM LOVED !