Having a (Sally) Field Day

I am nobody's huggy bear.

I don't know what it is, but unless someone is a member of my very small family tribe, and by that I mean immediate family, I don't hug them. Its never been one of the things I do. I think its always been noticeable that I'm not a huggy bear guy. I distinctly remember when I was fifteen that my best friend came to visit me and when he left there was an awkward situation as he went in for a hug and I shot him a handshake instead.

I'll never forget Billy Crystal in City Slickers II when Daniel Stern suggests they hug to keep warm, you could tell he was thinking, "Do I cuddle and lose some manly points and live, or do I risk freezing to death." I would do the same thing. After all, since I don't fish or hunt and I'm not a craftsmen or a sports enthusiast, I don't have a lot of manly points (about 20 give or take on any given day by my count, and the number goes WAY down when I watch Gilmore Girls with my wife, and even more down when I watch it without her) and I guess I worry about using them with cuddles and hugs. I have to have one way to be macho after all.

This year when one of my friends picked me up at the airport, he remembered my aversion to hugs and even said, "I know you're not a hug kind of a guy, but I haven't seen you in over six months so you're getting one anyway." I didn't argue, did I mention he used to be a cop? Plus, he drives around with a bluetooth headset which looks very authoritative. But I noticed last Sunday that my macho mania went out the window. We had a really good service that day, and although we were missing 7 regular worshippers, there was still 10 people at church, which means we would have had 17, which is really awesome. I was thrilled. Our little church sees attendance go down very low in summer with travelling and fishing and all sorts of other things and it can be discouraging. But, to see that many in August with seven missing was nothing short of amazing. After all, our first Sunday here two years ago had seven and a half people there, and two and a half of them were my family (my son was still a fetus and so didn't count for a whole yet, plus there's no lines for fetuses (or is it feti) on the stats form). The music went great, my sermon really seemed to connect with everybody, sharing in the characteristics of God's soldier as seen by the components of the armor of God. I loved it.

But, afterwards, that was when I had my wonderful (Sally) Field Day. Everybody, or is it just movie dorks like me, remembers her reaction to winning an academy award, "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me." I knew how she felt when two different corps members church members came up to me and thanked me for all my wife and I do for them, thanked us for being there for them, thanked us for loving them and stressing that a church is a family and a place to belong, thanked us for being their pastors. Then these two people, at different times mind you, reached out to give me a hug, and for the first time ever I found myself willingly hugging someone like that without any hesitation or internal struggle. Maybe our emphasis on a church being a family is finally reaching me too.

I've had my share of struggles as the pastor of a small church in a very small town. But, I have worked my hardest each day to pastor this community and show the love of God through how I treat everybody I encounter in all the things I do. I've had a lot of heartache, a few broken hearts, some amazing victories and awesome miracles that I've been privileged to witness. Amid the struggles that we face, and the crazy hectic schedule we have, I keep saying to myself its all worth it if I truly can say through all this work that someone knows God's love better and that I really helped someone. After last Sunday, those two hugs from wonderful people, I can tell you right now, the past two years of being a pastor and two years previous in training to be a pastor have all been worth it. I've helped people, I love my people and they love my family and I back. Now I know how Sally felt.

BLT says......thank you God for the opportunity to serve, and for eradicating my "no hugging" rule. I may not be a huggy bear, but I'm no stand alone Sam either.