Part 1 - The Job
Part 2 - The Boss
Part 3 - The Father
Part 4 - The Earring
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There was a lot going on in the spring of 2011. The calendar filled up quickly with all kinds of things that kept us busy. Honestly, we needed the activity to distract us from the emotional side of life for a while.
In the midst of all that busyness, we learned that Scott needed eye surgery. It didn’t appear to be serious, but because his problem developed sort of rapidly and rather largely, and because it was on the same side of his head where he’d had some more issues before, we had a little trepidation.
We had to delay the surgery for at least a month because of all the other commitments already on the calendar. By the time we got around to it, it was the end of May.
In anticipation of the eye surgery, I kept remembering scenes from his two previous surgeries. Two craniotomies. What a weird couple of years that was.
I thought about how much he looked like a baseball after the first surgery (2002).
I thought about how he looked like an alien after the second (2005).
I wondered how he would see things after this surgery.
Just being in a healthcare facility with all the scrub uniforms and beeping machines and, um, interesting smells you don’t get anywhere else is definitely a catalyst to make you consider things that you don’t usually give much time to when your calendar is full and your brain is otherwise distracted.
The eye surgery went fine. Once we were on the back side of it some of the anxiety eased, but we both we still left with that feeling that you get when a medical episode, no matter how minor, leaves you contemplating your own mortality.
Scott had a new eye with 20/10 vision, but we both felt the need to take another look at our lives. Our purpose. God’s call. All those things.
Our 25th wedding anniversary was less than a month away. We had been talking about taking a trip to celebrate. We originally had big plans but the cost of the eye surgery forced us to scale back a little. But, given everything that had happened in the last several months, we were GOING to get away for our anniversary. It didn’t really matter where. We just needed the rest.
So, about a month later we set out for a week on the Atlantic coast of south Florida. We didn’t do anything spectacular. No amusement park. No major airports. We just went somewhere else and lived for a week. We did the kind of things we normally do around here, just in a different environment. We went out to eat. We shopped. We went to the movies. We drove around looking at houses we will never be able to afford playing the What-If game.
The Florida coast is a wonderful place. Ahhh…..
It’s interesting how just doing what you normally do, but doing it in somebody’s else world will put things in a new light. It took us only about 24 hours after being there to come to an agreement about something.
That something was this: This is killing us. Living where we’re living, doing what we’re doing the way we’re doing it is killing us.
We kept saying that over and over to each other. It was one of those things neither one of us could really explain. We just knew that something had to change or we were literally going to die. We knew it and we felt it, but we couldn’t explain it. The change that needed to happen wasn’t just a physical thing. It was emotional and mental and spiritual as well. We didn’t know exactly what specifically needed to change, other than EVERYTHING. We just knew we couldn’t go on the way we had been.
We get back home with the new revelation and have no clue where to start. But we still know something’s got to give.
We signed up for Weight Watchers. We decided that maybe if we physically felt better, the less tangible elements would become clearer.
Scott signed up for a year-long leadership program with ministers from around the state, hoping to learn and be changed and challenged to grow.
I started thinking about leading Bible studies again and thinking about getting serious again with some other pursuits. I’m basically a thinker first, so it takes me a little longer to get into action (note to self: this is really a funny story for another day).
We had begun an attempt at change for the betterment of ourselves and those around us.
And then it happened.
Bud Summers, our Minister of Education, dies of a heart attack. Suddenly. We all knew he had health problems, but we were not expecting him to leave this world so soon. He was 56.
I have never been more sobered by my own prophetic words.
“This is killing us.”
Bud was one of us. He and Scott served on staff together along with Randy. Between the three of them, Bud was always the middle ground between the two other extremes. 
This changes everything.
It changes the people we love, especially Bud’s wife and children.
It changes the lives of all the church members affected by the loss.
It changes the future of our church. The dynamics of the staff have been forever altered. The void now created in the staff will change how everything else is done.
It changes us.
We came back from our vacation convinced that something needed to change. We felt the urgency to do something immediately. We had no idea that it would start with something beyond our control.
Our hearts are broken, but I guess it takes that to change sometimes.
The transformation is far from being over. Look out. This is just the beginning.
The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 1 Samuel 10:6-7
Part 1 - The Job
Part 2 - The Boss
Part 3 - The Father
Part 4 - The Earring
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