Thankful

I was a rebellion teenager, and like many rebellious teenagers, I HATED going to church.  My parents, however, made me go..week after week.  I sat and sulked through many sermons--just waiting for the day that I could be free from the nonsense!  Then in 1995, a new pastor came.  He was younger than the usual pastor, and he and his wife were different than any people I had met.  They loved deeply and freely, and gradually my heart softened towards them, the church, and God.   For the past 18 years, Mike and Chris Lenz have been my pastors, and I am thankful for them.  Their guidance and prayer and friendship has changed my life.  I know so many people who are churchless because of a wound inflicted from a pastor or ministry leader.  I read stories of pastors who turn away from God and abandon their churches.  I am so thankful that I have a pastor and his wife who are a couple who have stuck with it, lived with integrity, and opened their lives to me and to others.  When Pastor Mike and Chris came to our church they were the age I am now and had young children, and now they are grandparents themselves and grandparents to those of us who are now parenting young children.  I look to them as an example of a Godly marriage and practical parenting.   They probably have no idea how much they influenced my life for good and how thankful I am for them!!  They truly were a God-send to that rebellious, sullen teenager, and I hate to think what my life would have been like without them.