e-mail Pastor Gale Watkins

Dear friends,

It’s still early, but what a year it’s turning out to be! For me, it’s a definite "mixed bag," with some really great things and some really difficult things taking place at the same time.

We’ve been having more than the usual amount of sickness, it seems. Every time the phone rings, I’m hoping that it’s not another person going to the hospital.

The hardest part for our congregation has been saying good-bye to two really good friends. On Christmas Day, Betty Boynton died after a long illness. And then, on January 4, we lost Doll Spoon. In both cases, we hosted well-attended, encouraging, memorial services. But these are huge losses, especially for Jack Boynton and Earl Spoon, and their families, who would appreciate your prayer support at this time.

I’ve been feeling the heavy weight of having a doctoral paper to write, on top of everything else, with a February 1 deadline. Last year, that seemed like a long way off, so it was easy to go weeks on end without doing any work. Life has a way of happening whether or not you have a writing project! As the deadline got closer, I got motivated and actually made some progress. I’m glad to report that I’ve written a paper of about 100 pages that is now in the hands of professors John Burgess and Craig Barnes of Pittsburgh Seminary. The next two months is a time of revising and rewriting, following up on their comments. It’s a great relief to be at this stage. Thanks to Jean Latimer and Melynda Foust who have kindly read over the draft and caught some grammatical errors, saving me some embarrassment.

The other big positive for me in 2010 has been the P.F. Chang Rock ‘N Roll Marathon on January 17. You may wonder about the sanity of a 55 year old pastor who takes a rare Sunday off to run 26.2 miles! But it went really well. My finishing time of 3:53:01 was sixteen minutes faster than last year’s, and I’m still walking around. I appreciate all the encouragement I received from the congregation in this peculiar passion of mine.

We’ve completed our annual meeting. Both the Session and the Board of Deacons have organized for 2010. I know that it will always be a "mixed bag," but I’m hoping that this will be a year of great joy and much spiritual growth for Westminster.

God’s richest blessings on you.

 

Gale Watkins, Pastor