My Dear Shepherds,<\/p>\n\n
The best gifts pastors get don’t come under the Christmas tree or during Pastor Appreciation Month. This season I’m sharing the stories of some of the great gifts I’ve received. <\/em><\/p>\n\n Jim and Evy first met Kim when she was giving out food samples at a store. They struck up a friendship. Kim was most definitely not <\/em>a Christian. In fact, she called herself an angry atheist. But Jim and Evy invited Kim to their home and for her to ride with them to church. She came but she was locked and loaded! She never came off as angry, but she often dominated their Sunday School class with her questions. Some were honest. Some were just skeptical. And quietly, people prayed for Kim.<\/p>\n\n Gradually, she warmed up. She moved from angry atheist to agnostic. Her questions and objections just kept on coming. Months passed. Gradually she relaxed. Some questions were answered, and others dissolved. What mattered most for Kim was being around Christians, seeing our love for one another and for her. She liked the life of the church family, and we liked her spunk and smile.<\/p>\n\n Someone asked her to be an usher, and with her big smile and greetings, she was a natural. Meanwhile, God kept dropping little signs along her way—things that wouldn’t have meant much to me but to her were divine messages. When she found a penny, with its motto, “In God we trust,” she took it as a sign straight from God, and she found lots <\/em>of pennies.<\/p>\n\n When we formed a choir to sing for Good Friday and Easter, Kim joined. As we rehearsed each week, she was internalizing the messages of the songs about Jesus’ death and resurrection. On Good Friday evening the choir met early to go over the music one more time.<\/p>\n\n