Buddy, could you spare some change?

It's the last week of my wife working as the associate pastor at Ozark United Methodist Church. On July 1 she will become the pastor of the Golden City United Methodist Church in Golden City MO.
Obviously her life is changing significantly, but in this marriage thing, so will mine.
What is changing? Well, other than a new location to worship, and not seeing all our friends at OUMC and meeting new people there, not really much.
We won't be leaving Sparta, so there will be the same bills to pay, the same grass to mow and the same bed to sleep in. Boring, perhaps, but comforting.
Regina will be commuting to Golden City and will have days to work there, so a regular routine around here may take a while to establish, it may never happen.
There is the change the disrupts not only my life, but everyones, losing my routine.
Over the years, knowingly or unknowingly, we all establish a routine. It may not always be exact, but it probably involves family time, a job, a hobby and some really wasted time. We don't like it to change, and when it does it can be upsetting or exciting.
Right now with the last week at OUMC in the headlights, I can only say that my routine is being changed and it's kind of exciting, and kind of sad. Needless to say, for some of you reading this blog, you agree. Life is changing, times are changing, but if we so desire, friendships don't have to change.
Peace.

Little things add up.

Little things add up. Logical, reasonable and rational. Pennies add up to dollars, single stones picked up in a bucket add weight until you can't lift it. 34 weeks of Disciple Bible study adding up to a changed relationship with God and others. 5 nights of Vacation Bible School that creates a bond between kids and between kids and adults. Short 3 mile runs that add up to a 1000 miles in a year or the confidence to run farther even up to a 26.2 mile marathon.
Experiences, encounters and excursions add up to a life.
As many of you know my wife Regina is a United Methodist pastor and now a new adventure begins for us as she has been appointed to the Golden City United Methodist Church. This little church on the prairie is so familiar in many ways, but our experience with this type church in the past was not all that positive. However, the little things add up, and so even though the "been there, done that" factor seems at first to make this appear to be too easy or too boring, the experiences and encounters we have had in our excursions in life in the past 20 years changes the perspective.
Little things that have added to our world view now make this place of ministry a place of challenge rather than a place to give up on. In our experience in larger churches we have found the same attitudes, desires, problems and challenges that are embodied in this small congregation. What changes those attitudes, desires problems and challenges, in peoples lives is their cumulative encounters with God, experience.
So now, (speaking for me only Regina will have to post her own thoughts) I embark on this new excursion into the flatlands of western Missouri hoping that the little things in my experiences of seeing God work in peoples lives, was not because they were in a larger church, but because they were willing to let little things add up to change.
I too will have changes in this experience and pray that I will pay attention to let the little things, change me where needed and lead where I God wants me to be.
Peace.