2-4-6-8

One of the neat things about blogging is the ability to respond to or carry on a conversation with other blogs and the people behind them. And so I'd like to echo my friend Roz's note about our pastor at Cherokee UMC. I happened to have a picture Roz didn't have access to. Here's the pastor with a chain saw one not-too-long-ago winter morning as a group of us worked on the playground at the new church. (By the way, that's me standing on the piece he's trying to cut and probably making the work much more difficult!)

David's a good man, a good preacher, a good friend. We've had some fine times together in the years since my little family and I started attending Cherokee (not long after he and his family arrived there). The various whirlwinds that make up our lives these days have now confined most of our times together within the walls of Cherokee, but that's as it should be and marks those times as highly valuable.

This morning, when members and nonmembers of the church were standing to say what they appreciate about David and his family, I had so many things I could have stood and mentioned--sermons, laughs, Chinese food, help when I was stranded on a highway away from home, Angee's friendship, her music, her amazing willingness to do God's work, her banana pudding(!), any moment of wonderful conversation or play with Rachel and Laura. (Thanks to Rachael B. and April M. for mentioning Angee's music and her musical leadership, to John Q. for mentioning David's preaching, to Sam B. for mentioning the love of good food that David and he and several others of us have in common.)

Leesa wanted me to stand and say in particular how much we appreciated the way David--and through his example, Cherokee as a whole--welcomed Raleigh when, as a ten-year-old, he wanted to participate with the ushers. That has meant a lot to him (and to us) and has led me to believe that someday he might just enter the ministry himself. Leesa said she couldn't say this without crying. I told her I couldn't either.

2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate? You've heard the cheer and, if you attend Cherokee or you're a local firefighter, if you cross paths with the Woody family anywhere, you know the response.