Commisioning and Last Day in Poughkeepsie

I am writing this entry from Akron PA where we will begin our leadership training tomorrow. But I want to backtrack and talk about our last week in Poughkeepsie. I will begin with last Sunday when we went to services at PUMC for the last time. It was quite extraordinary! During the service, I performed a dance to the song When Its All Been Said and Done. I used a section of Psalm 116 to introduce it:

How can I repay the Lord for all He has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

I felt like the dance represented a setting aside of that career in pursuit of a calling He has placed upon me. The act of obedience and sacrifice, undertaken joyfully. It was a blessing to perform it in the service.

After church there was a huge commissioning luncheon for us. All of our friends were there AND our parents, who came up from Baltimore. Rebecca's and my contributions were recognized. We have never felt so loved, cared about and prayed for, in all our life!!!

We officially left Poughkeepsie on Wednesday morning. It was an interesting departure though. The night before we left there was a terrible storm and 2 trees blew down in our backyard. They knocked down the power lines and cable. It was a terrible mess! We had to call a tree service and the electric co. then head out of town. There was little we could do. As we drove down 84 West we hit a huge rock that fell off a truck and popped a tire. We had to exit and spent about 3 hours trying to find a place to get a replacement. It was challenging, but we took it all in stride, imagining how we would cope with these types of trials in Burundi where tree services and service stations would be far more difficult to come by. I am sure they do not have AAA either.

We enjoyed several days of relaxation in Baltimore and arrived in Akron, PA this evening.