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As our time in Tyler, TX was drawing to a close, Ron took time to get some medical care done. We had 6 months of severance. We also were given the gift of a cruise.
Ron had some medical conditions taken care of
Ron finally got hearing aids and was shocked that his hearing loss was as bad as it was. He also had a stable kidney stone blasted out since it looked like we might move away. It had been watched for a few years. We were told that could be done anytime. We didn’t want to have to deal with it with a new doctor.
He also had a skin area on his face, taken care of and it turned out to be skin cancer. It was removed. It took quite awhile. It wasn’t melanoma, but it was one of those cancers that they remove, send to pathology to see if all the margins are clear, then cut away some more, etc. It looks like a dot on the skin, but underneath, it spreads with tentacles where you can’t see. I had to wait in the waiting room a few hours. I wasn’t aware that this was what would be happening so I was getting alarmed. The doctor did a Z cut on his face when he took it out so he could sew it back up without a scar no matter how deep he had to go. The size of the Z across his cheek would have been alarming since it looked like a very small area on his face. His whole cheek was covered with a dressing, but once it healed, he had almost no scar.
Then we took our cruise and had some fun
Then we took our cruise. It was out of Galveston, TX and went to Cancun, Key West and Grand Cayman. We had friends from JA that we hadn’t seen since our JA years. We contacted them and met them for lunch. It was fun to see them so many years later, see the church where they were involved, and the life they had there in Grand Cayman. The cruise was lovely and relaxing.
After we got home from the cruise, we went to the Peoria, IL area to candidate for an interim pastoral position.
Then we came home and took a trip to a little town outside of Peoria, IL for a week where we candidated for an interim church position. A few weeks later, they called to ask Ron to come be their interim pastor. Then we got busy getting ready to move in January. It was now into November. We needed to move pretty fast!
Then we got ready to move to the Peoria area in the middle of January 2004
We thought through our options for the house. Yes, the renters might ruin the house. But there was no way we would be able to buy a house for what we were paying for our house. It was a great house and was bought in 1988 for a good bit less than $100,000. It was a 4/2 with a garage on 0.8 acre of land: a corner lot in a good section of town. We had to keep the house and take our chances on renters. Getting the house ready to rent meant clearing everything out of the house! After living there nearly 20 years, that was a nightmare! As it turned out, we didn’t get rid of enough either. We were moving into a 2 bedroom apt. and took way too much stuff.
One of the elders from the church arrived at our home with a rented truck and he and a few others in TX loaded it. Then he drove our stuff up to Hanna City, IL. Then we turned over the keys of our house to the rental company so they could manage our property.
I think we were about a day or two behind our elder. When we got to Hanna City, our apt. was full of our stuff. We could hardly get into it. I regretted not getting rid of more stuff. All we had to do was unbox it and put it away. Of course, the weather was COLD! I wasn’t even tempted to go outside.
One of the side effects of one of my medications is a symptom called Reynaud’s Syndrome that makes my fingers turn white in cold weather. It hurts. I had to wear gloves for sure, but even then an individual finger or two might turn white. It was no problem in places where the winters were moderate, but that isn’t the case in IL.
Some background on the Hanna City Church
The church in Hanna City had been without a pastor for over a year, probably two. When their last pastor left, there had been a lot of fuss. Actually, there was some controversy during that pastor’s time there. It sounded like some people loved him, others had strong feelings against him. It was very interesting. He sounded like a Godly man and often quite brave. But we understood why most people had strong feelings one way or the other about him.
During the time the church was looking for a pastor, it was recommended the leaders go to a conference called Embers to a Flame. (Now available in conference, video, or book.) They returned to the church with a very repentant attitude and apologized for some of the things they had done or attitudes they had that had been sinful, unwise, and/or hurtful to the church. Of course, we weren’t there, but those who were, were very touched by the humility shown by their elders as they repented to the congregation for their failures. Then they prayed together and led the congregation in prayer over the next few months as they prayed for the congregation and also prayed for a pastor. Leaders who humble themselves like that always move a church in a positive way if their actions are genuine.
It was humbling to think that we were the answer to those prayers.
In January 2004, we were the answer to that prayer. I don’t remember going to a church where they saw us as such a direct answer to their prayers for a pastor. When we went to TX, the leadership felt that way, but over time, the leadership changed. (The FL church leaders felt that way too. At least until some things started changing that they weren’t crazy about.) In IL, the whole church seemed to feel that way. It felt amazing and humbling.
We were received very well there. Ron especially loved being invited out for pie with others. That had rarely happened to him before. It was one of his favorite things to do, have pie after church, and that’s what some of these people did. He enjoyed it. It seems like a small thing. But to have people want to have him over for dessert after church either at a restaurant or at their home touched his heart. It showed they liked him as a person.
These were his people…midwesterners. He was having a great time. Many were farmers. He grew up around farmers, but most were dairy farmers. These were mostly corn/soy farmers with a few that had once been pig farmers as well. I found it interesting to learn about farm life from the different kinds of farmers. The other industry in the area was the Caterpillar Company. Almost every family was either hired by them or had a retired family member from that company. Their headquarters was in Peoria then, but in the surrounding area were all kinds of support companies that were part of Caterpillar.
Soon, they asked Ron to be their pastor
After about a year or a year and a half, the church asked Ron to be their pastor. We knew we wouldn’t be there 20 years. We didn’t know how long we would be there. We did know that none of the changes that needed to be made would become permanent until Ron was their official pastor. Until he was official, they would outwait him until a more permanent pastor came.
I think Ron felt loved there in ways he may never have felt loved by any church he was in before. That isn’t to say that there weren’t people in all our churches before that we loved and loved us. But this one was unique. It may have been because of the midwestern flavor. As it turned out, we were only there a little over 4 years.
I took a refresher RN course in the Dallas, TX area for a month and got my nursing credentials all caught up.
I completed my recovery from the years I had been sick and had gotten to the point that I thought I would get my nursing credentials updated. Whether I worked in IL or TX, (and at the time, I honestly didn’t know where I would be.) I needed to update my TX credentials. I hadn’t worked for just long enough that I needed to take a refresher course. There was a one month course I was able to take in TX that was pretty reasonable for me that included all I needed so I signed up for it and left for a month. I took it in the Summer 2007. But while I was in TX, I had a chance to go to Tyler and visit friends from our former church as well as worship there on Sunday. The new pastor had moved there and was settled in. I was able to meet him and his wife.
I also drove past our house and saw it wasn’t in very good shape. The neighbors weren’t fond of the people in the house either. They weren’t a positive influence on the neighborhood.
Our oldest daughter was falling in love
Also during that time, a new development had happened in our family. Our oldest daughter in Ukraine had fallen in love. Her man friend was from Austin, TX, so we made contact and met at a 1/2 way point in Waco, TX. I was able to meet him and have lunch with him on one of the weekends I was there. It was a very busy time. Part of my time was in classes, the easy part. Much of it was working in a nursing home. It was 7-3 shift I had to get up super early in the morning. Of course, it was physically demanding and overall, it was a very tiring time. When the month was up, it was great to get home. I curled up and slept and slept! Ron was very glad to see me as well.
Meanwhile, Ron’s health was getting to be a bit of a problem
Ron had been having some issues with his health. He had some slight issues with his blood pressure. But around this time, His blood pressure wasn’t coming down like it usually did. His doctor was adding more meds to his regime but it wasn’t responding. He was now at 3 different BP pills a day with no response. As happy as he was in his job, I also knew he was transitioning to a new point in what needed to be done at the church that had him a little more stressed.
He didn’t want to leave. There is no question. But I wanted him to stay alive and not stroke out.
In the middle of all of this, our daughter got engaged!
Her wedding was scheduled for April 2008. Her wedding, by itself, wouldn’t have been a big issue for us. We didn’t need to move back to TX for the wedding alone. But the house was getting beaten up and Ron’s health was taking a toll. Maybe it was time to head back to TX for me to work and Ron to slow down. The decision was really a difficult one.
After thought and prayer, we set in motion a plan for me to return to TX in March to start working on the house. As it turned out, it was in worse shape than I realized. The people that were living there had been brutal to it. They were the fourth tenants we had had since we moved.
I’m sorry. I don’t understand people who live in a house and throw food on the ceiling, can’t aim and hit the toilet (these were teen-agers), and feel they need to cut notches in a newly installed countertop. Yes, it was a nice formica, but still! they notched each of 3 sections. Then they wanted their deposit back. I refused. I showed the rental agent all their damage and they totally agreed! I think they were mad that we came back a little before their year was up but it was in the contract that if we returned, we would be able to get back in the house.
We put lots of sweat into the house to get it looking decent in time for the wedding in April. Incidentally, that included the yard.
We painted, scrubbed, and I was in and out of the store getting more and more supplies. I had no idea what I was doing but I learned pretty fast. There had been a drought too and on top of that, some of the tenants hadn’t turned on the sprinkler system. It cost lots and lots of money (as in thousands of dollars) to get the yard looking decent! By early April, I headed back to Hanna City and we said good-bye to everyone. We emptied the house where we were living and moved our stuff back to TX.
Ron served Communion on that last Sunday and I lost it. I realized this was the last time I would see him serving Communion in his church. It was a bittersweet rite of passage. It was difficult to pull myself together. He was 70 years old. It was 2008. He had been in official ministry since he was ordained in 1965. Unofficial ministry since many years before that. He still had his kindness, sense of humor, love for Jesus and people intact. He also was very realistic about people.
The next day, we headed back to TX. We still had more work to do on the house. But we were also looking forward to the wedding at the end of April. All of our family was coming. It was going to be a lot of fun!
What I learned from our time in Hanna City
- Never underestimate the value of the spiritual preparation your church does before a new pastor comes. This includes specific prayer for him and his family; making right your relationships within your church body; being prepared for God to work in the ways he wants to through the new pastor. Don’t wait for the new pastor to clean up all the mess that has been simmering for years in your church. You as the leaders already know what is there. Clean up the mess before he comes.
- Never underestimate the power of your encouragement and love to your pastor and his family. It will make them love you and want to serve you wholeheartedly. They may not be able to stay as long as they want to for other reasons, but you will be close to their hearts.
- We still have a warm place in our hearts for this sweet place in the flat plains of Illinois. They now have a pastor who grew up in that town and are growing and doing well. We are so happy for them. It is no accident that church is doing well because of the work they did during that time they were without a pastor.
