Waiting and Patience

Many years ago I discovered something about myself that is probably true of 99.99% of the people in world: I hate waiting. Some friends of mine at Eastern Kentucky University and I made plans to go to the Kentucky Derby (sometime in the early 80s I suppose), and though we knew that we would have to wait in line to get into Churchill Downs and the infield, nothing could have prepared us for the length of time actually involved in said endeavor.

We arrived early in the morning and then basically waited for almost three hours (though the hours seemed like days) in order to earn the privilege of getting into a packed infield where we would be lucky to catch a few glimpses of the race horses for the rest of the afternoon. It was extremely hot, the prices for drinks were astronomical, and I was in my very best complaining mode. I probably ruined the day for most, if not all, of my friends with my incessant whining. That is what waiting does to me . . . it turns me into a whiner extraordinaire.

I tell you this because I am just warning you what I will be like for the foreseeable future. You see, I am now waiting to hear if I will be moved to a new church come the end of June. The appointment season has officially begun, and the Bishops and District Superintendents of the three United Methodist Conferences in my area had their official “appointment retreats” this past week, during which they begin to decide which pastors will move to what churches (a process that can go through late May or early June).

As my regular readers know, I am hoping to move closer to my daughter who now resides in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. But in order to get within a reasonable distance, I may very well have to move to a different conference. So not only am I waiting to hear from the leaders of the Eastern PA Conference, I am also waiting to hear from the Central PA Conference and/or the Wyoming Conference (Northeastern PA and Southwestern NY . . . not the state). It is always a tricky thing to change conferences because each conference has to first appoint their own ministers before even considering any possible transfers (like myself). The only exception to this rule is when a conference is in short supply of pastors, and from what I have heard, this is not the case with Central PA and Wyoming. It gets even trickier if you have been a pastor for some time and are making more than the minimum salary. It is so much easier to bring in folks making the minimum, as you can imagine.

If my own conference cannot find a suitable appointment for me, I may end up waiting until April or May before I hear anything at all from the other conferences. Personally I am short on the virtue of patience, and so I need your prayers . . . prayers for patience, prayers that an appointment will open up closer to my daughter, prayers that I won’t have to take too large a cut in salary or none at all in making a move, and prayers that I won’t have to wait too long to find out where I will be serving in less than six months. And if any of you are pastors in Central PA or Wyoming and are willing to throw in a good word about me to your Bishop or D.S., I would be most appreciative.

Of course, I will let you know what happens as soon as I can share the news myself.

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