United Methodist clergy itinerate. It is essentially one of the hallmarks of being a UM clergy person. You will go where the Bishop sends you for one year. Then you will go where the Bishop sends you for one year. Now, the location may be the same, year after year, but you still only go one year at a time. I asked a friend of mine, who had just been sent to a new location, what it felt like? How was it to become the pastor of a whole new set of people? And his response, I loved them before I ever met them.
This image has two groups of people that I fell in love with; the first was a group of university students who gave up most of their Winter break to be in mission in India. I fell in love with them the moment I met them. They were diverse. They were strange. They were and remain amazing people. I can’t imagine having spent those 20 days in India with any other group. The second group in the image were the orphans of the “baby fold” where we stayed. I loved them before I met them. Who couldn’t fall in love with orphans and abandoned children? They were diverse. They were strange. They were and, I suspect, remain amazing people.
God throws all sorts of people in our path. Some are wonderful, and some are frustrating. I have had my share of frustrating people this week, but in the end, fairly certain God put them in my path for a reason. For the potential of a thin place.
And I suspect I missed it. Keep searching.
searchingforthinplaces 