I was not nearly ready to leave the mountains Sunday morning. But Rebekah and I needed to make our way to Washington for a family funeral, and we did enjoy beautiful scenery all along the way. We left our peaceful retreat at Wild Bird fairly early, making our way through the high passes north from Asheville to Johnson City, then up the Shenandoah Valley and across the Blue Ridge again before rolling in to Washington D.C.

It was was also difficult to experience the first post-retirement Sunday, understanding that we have really left our church home of the past eight years. The finality hasn’t really sunk in yet, and worshipping somewhere else mostly felt like it does when we’re on vacation. But I do know that the pain will come; it is only natural, because such genuine love makes a broken heart inevitable.

So a grateful “cheers” to the past few days of mountain serenity, also prayers for the McMahan family today as they deal with another landmark funeral, and then a mixture of celebration and grief as Rebekah and I look toward the first “normal” week of what this new life will (maybe) look like, a life in the process of redefinition and clarification and so very many questions.

Because we are people of faith, and people of promise too – DEREK