Retracted

I had a great post lined up for this morning but I realized that I just wasn't up to dealing with the possibility of conflict in the comments. It was about this article by Fatimah Waseem in the Howard County Times. There's absolutely no point in writing if I'm going to put the post under glass and hope for no (unpleasant) response, so I'll just skip that.

Today is my brother in law's last service as a minister in the United Methodist Church. He is retiring. When I was little I never understood adults saying "It seems like only yesterday that..." but now, I know. It was only yesterday, wasn't it, that he left his management career at Kraft to go to seminary and completely changed the course of his (and my sister's) life? He has given it his all.

Love, humor, pragmatism, grace, insight, vision, hard work, patience, diplomacy, endurance. Talking the talk and walking the walk. I've always thought that, had I lived nearby, I would have become a Methodist just because of Evan.

I learned recently that he has become well-known for closing each service with the following:

Spend time with the people that you love, and let them know that you love them.

That's undoubtedly a better message than any blog post I might have written today. Godspeed, Evan. And to my sister and nephews--what a huge part of this amazing ministry you have been. No one can be a minister in a vacuum. I know what a big part of your lives has been commingled with Evan's life's work. You have given your all, too.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. --John Wesley, founder of Methodism

*****

Oh, and one more thing: peaches are in at the Oakland Mills Farmers Market today, 9 am to 1 pm. And a visit from Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm! Don't miss it.