A whole new phase.

For the last 4 years I served as Pastor of a great church. I loved the relationships, the people, and honestly the job of pastoring. As of Saturday, that was all gone. I have been asked by a ton of different people how I am doing and how I feel about Real Life closing and honestly it's hard to give an honest answer that would make sense to them.

Allow me to explain:

• Real Life was something that God breathed into me years ago. Now that it's no longer here it almost feels like I have lost a child. So there is a real and tangible sense of loss.
• Real Life also took up most of my available energy (emotional and physical) so while, I have a sense of loss, there is also a part of me that feels that pressure has been lifted off my shoulders because I can take some time and catch my breath.
• Real Life was the primary source for my relationships. Which was great and bad at the same time. I loved the people but my love for the people in many ways took me away from other friends and family that I should have spent more time with. Now that RL isn't there I am excited about reconnecting with some people that have been on my heart for a long time and I just couldn't get with.
• I am taking some time to go over things we did right and things we did wrong so that I can learn from my mistakes and the mistakes of the church as a whole. That is a painful process to actually look at your actions and think I coulda, and shoulda done XYZ different.
  
• I am sometimes happy as I think back and celebrate the good things that happened. Thinking about the people that stepped into ministry for the first time. Watching them stumble...then catch their feet and start to succeed. That was awesome to see and brings me joy even in the midst of feeling a sense of loss.

I could go on and on but to say that I have mixed emotions would be the understatement of the world!

We'll I need to get back to my day job. Those Papers will not write themselves!