The plan for the day was simple.  Get the mail, go to the church office, do some administrative work, make a visit, go to a meeting and then work on the Sunday sermon.

Then everything changed.

I got the mail and went to the office.  There was a letter addressed to me from a barber supply company (yeah, I was confused).  It seems that someone has stolen my church credit card.  I called the credit card company and discovered four charges that I did not make.

I tried to finish up some administrative work then headed out to my visit.  The member (who is 99 btw) was in much better shape than my visit on Thursday.  We talked then prayed and I headed out for my meeting.  As I was driving to my meeting, the tire pressure indicator began to flash.  I found a Wawa (I love Wawa), checked all the tires and proceeded to my meeting.  But the indicator came on again.

The meeting was about Alzheimer’s and gave me some good information to share with the congregation.  I was even asked to close the meeting in prayer.

But that indicator was still on so I drove to the same Wawa and filled the tire again.  Realizing it was a problem, I decided to find a tire service station.

On the way a call came in – a hospice nurse telling me that one of our members has had a “change”.  This means she is actively dying.  Unfortunately, this was an hour from where I was, and I still had that tire problem.  I called the nurse and asked her if the next morning would work – she said “yes” to the best of her knowledge.  But something gnawed at me.  I needed to get there.

I let my wife know of the situation and she changed her work schedule to pick up our daughter at school so I could go to the congregation member.  But I was still at the garage.  The manager told me of some needed work – and I told him my situation.  He said to the mechanic “get this done”.  He told the front desk person to handle everything immediately so I could get out fast.  Then, while I was paying the bill, he asked me a name to pray for (YEAH!).  I got out of the garage and headed towards the nursing facility.

Some family members were there when I arrived.  We talked, I listened to stories, I was present.  More family came as did more stories.  Then it was time to pray.  Honestly, sometimes it is hard to pray for a person actively dying.  While I’m confident in the resurrection, I still find it hard to say goodbye (don’t we all?).  And after the prayer I told the person I would see her again – because I truly believe that I will.

This was a day in the life of a minister.  Plans change, unpredictable things happen, and God is glorified.

God is good.