"TEN YEARS"

Dear WRC,

Ten years ago, October 17, 2012, Samantha and I packed up our VW Passat wagon, waved goodbye to family and friends, and rolled out of Holland, MI.  We set out for the foreign land called New Jersey filled with excitement, expectation, and a healthy dose of uncertainty.  It was 3 or 4am on the 18th when we dragged ourselves up the steps of the Klomburg parsonage to collapse for our first night’s sleep in our new home, only to discover that the full-size air mattress we packed to survive until the moving truck arrived in a few days was actually a twin.  Sam let me sleep on it so that I could get into the office at 8am to meet Sue Fasano and my first bulletin deadline.

We had no idea what we were getting into, but God did. God had been long at work creating a path for us, a place for us, a people for us. How could we have known all that was to come, let alone be even remotely prepared for it? Hindsight makes it clear that that was never what ultimately mattered—our planning and preparation. What mattered was God.  What always matters is God, the definitive reality of our life and being. And for a decade now in this calling there has been one place more than any other where we have seen God working clear as day, one place where God has showed up over and over and over again: you.

Thank you. God has been so good to us through you. You have been there for us from the first day until now, partnering in this work of the Gospel. It is in you that we have seen and heard and tasted that the Lord is good.  It is through you that we have felt God’s love, care, and provision. It is from you that we have received God’s grace. In each thank you card or encouraging voicemail, each offer to watch our kids or work on our house, every meal delivered or dog walk after the kids were born, every prayer offered and song sung, every meal shared and tear shed, in every single one God was working among us. In each of those moments you likely had little idea of the weight of your actions nor of the tapestry you were weaving, but after ten years the picture is clear: the Kingdom of God has come near.

“I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 1:3-6

In Christ,

Pastor Andy