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Scenes from my first Christmas

Yes, this is my First Christmas.....as a Deacon of course. Fr. Andrew reminded me and the entire congregation of that, along with the story ...

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Come to me.......part deux!

The day is getting better by the moment and even with the feelings of uncertainty and the unknown we travel to meet a large group of people we don't really know. The trip was without a doubt as special as the whole day. You see, Mike & Elise Johnson have been people that we have shared a few things together. First of all we share the times spent at St. Michael School in Berlin with our children through education and sports. We also share a common faith. Beyond our time spent in Berlin we pretty much knew a little of each other, but not really all that much.

Our travel together was our second trip with both couples, I guess the beauty of being confined in a car is that it offers opportunities if we take advantage of them. I believe we all did, we got to share our experiences that have brought us to this point. Our conversations were open, honest, and refreshing. We are really getting to know each other and the distance is not awkward. We also have moments of silence and they aren't uncomfortable.  The time seems to move quickly even when we weren't quite sure if we were on the right road.

Finally we arrive a little late, but there none the less. Deacon Greg is the first to greet us with a great big smile, welcoming us to his home and showing us around a bit. Initial impressions for me were great, and comfortable. The uncertainty fades away to a feeling of relaxation, and even more. Both couples move in and we get to meet Fr. Dennis and share very good conversations with him. Next I see Pat and she greets me and Terry very warmly. This is all incredible to me, a unique and undescribable feeling comes over me. We were also introduced to Deacon Arnold.

We all move over to the porch outside and we all seem to find our way to meet and greet with as many people as we can. I carried on a conversation with Deacon Greg and I was able to get to know him a little better by the time we spent. I got to know about his background, his family, his faith, and the direction the Permanent Diaconate program is going.  My wife who is a very open person seems to be quite comfortable also as I could see her while glancing around. From the look of things it appears that the Johnson's are quite comfortable also with the time spent with others. 

It was great to meet some of the other Aspirants and their wives. The time there was incredible. It felt like time stood still and yet moved along quickly. Before we knew it, it was time to leave. Deacon Greg thanked us all and told us this was the beginning of many more of these to come, and the feelings and the looks throughout the room was great. I think many of us were already looking forward to the next time together.

The last person I met was Deacon Ed, and he asked if we had been introduced. I said we weren't and he seemed disappointed and apologized. I told him not to worry, we did meet. This final greeting and farewell was very moving. You see because of this blog I got myself a little notepad to write down my thoughts and feelings to share with all you what has been special to me. This moment was one that I didn't want to forget, so as soon as I got home I wrote them down along with the date of the event.  Now to get back to Deacon Ed, as we were leaving he shared a vision and a message, " We are now all, Aspirants and Deacons part of a greater community, a brotherhood!"

I describe this day as a bit of a Homecoming, and for me a continuation of my coming back to my calling. I know we all come from different backgrounds but on this day we were all part of something special, a new beginning that will help us become what we are all called to be. To all my brothers and their wives thank you for our first family day.

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