Objects in the Mirror

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. True enough. I seem to have been spending an inordinate amount of time lately reflecting about LCPC (La Crescenta Presbyterian Church) and CLW (Church of the Living Word) people and the memories I have of them. I didn’t spend this much time ruminating about things as I approached retirement from AT&T after 35 years and this makes me wonder what’s going on. Am I getting ready to make a change, a move? Is there going to be a push in another direction? Who can say? I try to keep my mind and spirit open to the next thing hoping and praying that God is leading the way.

Today I’ve been going through a lot of old MAZ (Mission Arizona) paperwork; old medical releases, expectations contracts, questionnaires, and my old notes and photos in preparation to hand them over to our new director, Kimberly Cox. So many incredible young people have been with me through MAZ that I feel more fortunate than I’ve any right to expect. There’s not one of them that came to mind that brought a frown although I did wince when I thought of Jacob Sinclair from last year and Matt Kelly from so many years ago. Those boys gave me a fright, especially Jacob going to the emergency hospital when I couldn’t be with him; some old ghosts arose and freaked me out. With Matt we knew it was a broken arm and had it set in a couple of hours so the anxieties associated with not knowing were not so severe. I’d go back with any of them.

          I couldn’t possibly name them all, handfuls of Harters, Chambers, and Gossetts; sets of Cox kids, Doedings, Whites, and Grays; a whole boxful of Fernandezes; a pair of Schwings and their mom, and not to mention my own nephews and in-laws. And the adults…every one of them a hero to me, each of them finding their youth ministry grove for the trip having brought skill sets that they found out about some time before or during the trip - some of them called to a lifetime of youth work, some for a year or so. And the current batch, Kim Cox returning as director as an alumni from Jr. High/High School, the roof wrecking and placing ladies from last year, Ashley and Rachel and the ultimate in cool heads, Amanda who calmly took care of Jacob… Our friends on the reservation; my dear friend Roland, Wallace, Eugene, Natalie, and the neighborhood kids. Oh, and the dogs, foremost among them is Buddy, nee Ne Ne. I’ve left dozens of names out and they keep popping up in pictures and each picture brings even more to mind. I cannot possibly do all of the MAZ people justice.

On the heels of my hymnal dedication research I stumbled upon the Bible dedication in the student center. It was a sobering moment for me that came just as Josh opened the lesson this past Sunday about the Sixth Commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Murder”. The Bibles were given “In Loving Memory of Christopher McCulloch a 13 year-old boy who slipped through our program and became involved with a rough crowd and paid the ultimate price for it on 7/22/2000. It’s hard for me to relate to – I know it would be nearly impossible for twelve and thirteen year-olds today to understand what happened nearly fifteen years ago.

          With the exception of the memories of Chris all those that have wondered through my thoughts have been pleasant recollections and were easy for me to give thanks for. When I look in the mirror, even the flashbacks to the CLW days some forty years ago are not really so far back. I have a bunch of those kids in my cover photo on Facebook right now, though it’s nearly time to change it. Those ‘kids’ have been incredibly good to us and have said some really nice things about Cindy and me from back then. God is good.

          I guess it is okay to look in the rearview mirror and remember things as long as we remember that they are closer than they appear and as long as we don’t stare for too long and forget to watch where we are going. Check the review mirror once in a while but keep your eyes on the road.

         

In His grip, jerry