Pastorbuddy

 

Today at our church we celebrated--and mourned--the retirement of our wonderful Pastor, Lloyd Reaney, at the 30 year mark in his ministerial history in Whitewater Wesleyan Community Church. 

Back in the day, I used to meet Pastor Lloyd out for his morning stroll in Foresters Falls as I drove through on my Ottawa Citizen paper route. I never took the opportunity to stop to speak to him. I knew who he was, but I didn't know him personally. That turned out to be to my great debt. 

The thing that always struck me about him, even just driving by in a car, was what an incredibly nice gentleman he was. He had the Grace of God not just written on him, but permeating the atmosphere around him. That man walked in the peace of the Lord. 

Different times, I thought I needed to get to know him. I was a Christian; the Lord owned my heart, but I didn't attend church. I did Bible studies at home through a Bible study course I bought online. 

I had many troubles in my life. I didn't want troubles, and wanted no part of drama in my life, but it always found me no matter how low I lay. I thought, due to those troubles, that I didn't deserve to be part of a church, so I followed the Lord at home. I felt the presence of God in my life, and observed His hand of protection in it, but something was missing. There was a piece of the puzzle I couldn't find. The puzzle was completed on its figurative table, all but one crucial piece, and the picture just wasn't clear without it. 

It always bothered me that I wasn't Baptized. I was a Believer, and my heart and my head were bowed to my Lord, and my knee was gladly bent. But Baptism had eluded me. It can be a little difficult to be Baptized when you're not part of a church.

As the new Whitewater Wesleyan Community Church was being built, when I would be driving past it, the feeling would come over me, "I should be there helping out, because that's where I'm going to be going". I had no idea why such a compunction would seize me each time, but it did. I had no intention whatsoever of joining a large church. I wanted small. Quiet. Somber. The saying, 'Go big or go home' was the very opposite of my feeling towards a church. Just a few. Just a few, sincere people. Stay anonymous. Stay disconnected. Go in, go out, go home. 

That wasn't what God had in store for me, though. He had Pastor Lloyd in mind for me. The sincere thing was going to be a big part of it, but nothing else in my personal recipe for church. 

As the conviction to get Baptized overcame me to the point I could no longer shake it off no matter how hard I tried, I finally sought help outside of my home Bible studies. This is going to sound absolutely ridiculous to some, but I 'baptized' myself in the bathtub, several times. It brought no comfort. It held no water, so to speak. Something was missing, and missing badly. 

That wonderful gentleman Pastor I saw walking never left my mind. I had never spoken a word to him, but felt... a connection to him. I knew I could totally trust him even though I didn't know him. The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

The conviction to be Baptized hit an impossible to withstand level, and I bent to it, and went to see Pastor Lloyd at the new church. I called and made an appointment with him. I walked in, he welcomed me, showed me around, and then we went to his office and sat down. He looked me straight in the eye with that honest but totally nonthreatening intensity of his that some of you may know, and said, "Now, Danny, what can I do for you?" 

As no nonsense as he was, I replied, "Pastor, I want to get Baptized".

His eyebrows went up a little because of my direct and obviously heartfelt and sincere response. I had his undivided attention with a statement like that. This was his Specialty and we both knew it. He eased back in his chair and put his fingertips together in his church steeple fashion of his and simply responded, "When?"

"YESTERDAY!". 

Pastor Lloyd chuckled, and said, "Ok, how about tomorrow afternoon at 1PM at Stone's Lake?"

"Great!" 

So that was it. He told me he was going to invite "a few people" because Baptism is a public declaration of faith in the Lord. Now, I was the last person to want a public display of anything, but I wanted to be Baptized more than anything, and this man was going to do it for me the very day after I met him. It resounded huge in me, and I shook his hand gratefully and took my leave. 

The next day, 1PM found me at Stone's Lake, and there were a bunch of people there alright. Being so private and quiet and withdrawn, I was a little taken aback, but I was going through with this no matter what. Pastor Lloyd and Pastor Daryl are masters of pulling you out of your comfort zone, and that was my first experience of it. 

The time came, and I went down into the water to be Baptized. Aaron Martin assisted Pastor Lloyd, and they immersed me in the Jordan, with the wonderful words, "I Baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost". 

I came up with the weight of the world shrugged off of my shoulders. Aaron was crying. I was too, but I was so soaking wet nobody could tell. At least that's what I told myself. Pastor Lloyd looked at me with that loving meaning all of us who know him have felt. 

It was finally done. Finally!

We came up out of the water, and Pastor Lloyd introduced me to several people. My head, quite honestly, was spinning from the relief of finally giving in to the conviction and feeling the weight of that conviction removed, so I can't remember even half of the wonderful people that were there to witness and share in the celebration of it with me. I met our Jack of all Trades Pastor Daryl that blessed day. I also got to meet Tim and Fern Prins. Tim has become a cherished friend and Brother in the Lord. These people, not knowing me at all, took the time out of their busy lives and schedules to come and affirm my relationship with the Lord. 

After introducing me to my new church family, Pastor Lloyd dropped an absolute bombshell on me, "I hate to have to do this, but today is my Birthday, and I have to be going to spend it with family". 

This man just met me yesterday, and he gave up part of his Birthday to be with me and Baptize me! My senses thundered with the awesomeness of the man that was shaking my hand. This was truly a Man of God! This was a man who really, really cared about his flock! This was the man who God intended to become my Pastor!

I was humbled to my toes. I looked him straight in the eye, and told him, "Pastor, for you taking time out of your Birthday to Baptize me, I will not miss a single Sunday in your church for a year." I didn't know how else to pay him back for his incredible, selfless generosity.

As it turned out, I didn't miss a single Sunday in this incredible man's church for eight years. 

Pastor Lloyd and I developed a relationship of mutual respect. I could talk to him. I could be myself with him. I could express my shortcomings to him and not face a 'holier than thou!' judgement. Pastor Lloyd is no Pharisee. 

Pastor Lloyd became my Friend. He has a Title which no other man will ever hear out of my lips: "Pastorbuddy". That is my personal badge and stamp of Respect and friendship that he and only he will ever be treated to in this life. 

"Pastorbuddy" is a term of love and endearment and lifelong gratitude for his sacrifice for me, an outsider that he welcomed into his world with open arms and an ingrained integrity that exudes from his every pore. 

My debt to Pastor Lloyd does not end at the shore of Stone's Lake. No, it only began there. 

That Glorious Day was September 1, 2011. 

The very next year, on his Birthday again, Pastor Lloyd walked into my new house with me on Foresters Falls Road and asked a Blessing upon it for me. The first time I put a key in the door of my new home, my wonderful Pastorbuddy was there with me to celebrate it with me. So in only one year's time, he took time out of his Birthday twice to spend with me on an important milestone in my life. That is not something you can ever put a price on.

One day I walked into Pastor Lloyd's office and handed him a sheet of paper with a label for what I thought was socially--and mentally--wrong with me due to my constant desire to avoid people and society. "Pastorbuddy, this is exactly what's wrong with me. There's even a name for it". Pastor Lloyd read the description through, and handed the paper back to me, shaking his head in a "No", demeanor. Negatory. 

"That may have been you before, but it is not you anymore. You have moved on past that and left that person behind. You take that paper home and throw it in the garbage". He was absolutely right, of course, but I didn't know or understand it yet. And he is the one I have to thank for it. Pastor Lloyd, drawing me into his church, also drew me out of my shell at the same time and gave me a sense of worth and belonging that I had never felt before. Whitewater Wesleyan Community Church was my home. The world sure wasn't.

Oh, but he wasn't done with me. No, friends, he was only just getting started. 

Three of the greatest people in my life that I have ever met in my life I owe directly to Pastor Lloyd.

 I do not even remember how Dave Kirk and I met, but it was in Whitewater Wesleyan Community Church. We just naturally gravitated toward each other, with a similar bond of conviction and life interests. Our relationship is easy and relaxing. Dave's calm and cool and methodic approach to anything is contagious. He is an impossible to overstate massive blessing to me. He levels out my hot headedness with his 'steady as she goes' solidness. His name with me is Buddyboy. If I love you and respect you and cherish you, you end up with a Name, period. There's no getting out of it. And that Name will have "Buddy", or "Boy" in it, both meaning bucketloads of Respect. Dave's name is "Buddyboy", so what does that tell you? Pastorbuddy gave me my Brother Buddyboy. 

The second one is Chad Bebee. Pastor Lloyd one day took me aside, and said to me, "I have a new young man here that needs some help with a tractor. I'd like to introduce you to him and see if you can help him?" He posed it like a question, but in Pastor Lloyd's and Pastor Daryl's church, you get Assignments; Voluntold. Chad was standing in the Foresters Falls corner of the Sanctuary, and Pastor Lloyd introduced me to my Little Brother in the World, and my Big Brother in the Lord that morning. He and I share our love of the Lord and uprooted farmboy background. His Name is "Chaddyboy". My Dad's name was "Daddyboy", so "Chaddyboy" shows his solid adoption into my family. Whether he likes it or not. And I owe my Chaddyboy to my Pastorbuddy. 

The last is my Wife. When I started in Whitewater Wesleyan Community Church, the just uncanny, unshakable notion that my future Wife was in this church took hold of me. I couldn't explain it if I tried. But it just wouldn't leave me. It didn't make any sense at all. I'd never had such a groundless feeling in my life. I had a girlfriend. Well, so I thought. But she wouldn't have a thing to do with me when I wanted it. Everything was on her distant terms. She just dangled me on a string. I used to have such incredible mixed feelings about attending church; I was so excited to be there, learning about my Father and Saviour, but I was also grieving the empty seat beside me, which was where I thought she was supposed to be. I looked down at that empty seat week after week with a heavy heart and tears welling in my eyes. But she had other plans, which didn't include me. 

I watched Sharon Remus go through the incredibly painful journey of losing her Husband. She did it with such Grace that I was humbled by her bearing in the face of such personal tragedy. She sang as thanks to those who helped and supported her through and on the loss of her Husband, Richard. I found myself drawn to the high purity of her voice, and nicknamed her, "Songbird". I could never remember a person's name, so I made names I could. "Songbird" worked for Sharon Remus. I admired her. She used to walk down "my" side of the church after singing or making an announcement and I would always smile respectfully at her, and give her a thumbs up or 'perfect' sign if she had sung. I meant it, sincerely. I loved her voice.  She always smiled back at me. I had the strange notion there was more in that smile than just a smile. We started to chat. She kept asking me to come have coffee with her at coffee hour. I couldn't bring myself to tell her I just hate the stuff, so I'd just politely decline and excuse myself.

One day Chaddyboy dragged me in to the meeting hall, and broke the ice with Sharon and just suddenly disappeared. There one moment and gone the next. Sumpthin' fishy is afoot here... We chatted away pleasantly, and she told me her eavestrough was messed up from ice. I found myself there that afternoon fixing it. Then we had something to eat at her table and sat there for 4 hours talking. Then one Sunday she stopped to talk to me before the service. I just slid over and she sat beside me. The service started and she stayed there. Soon she was gladly sitting where I had never once been able to get my 'girlfriend' to come to sit, and I liked it. She has never left my side since. She is Sharon Bowes now. She treats me like a KING in my home. 

So that is the third irreplaceable person in my life I owe to Pastor Lloyd Reaney and Whitewater Wesleyan Community Church. 

Pastorbuddy, you provided that last, critical, missing piece of the puzzle, and when you did, my resulting picture exploded into life, in four dimensions and Techincolor! My life is full. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for that.

My life has taken so many changes due to this incredible man, and all of them hugely positive. If you know him, you likely would freely admit the same for yourself. I cannot possibly find the words to express my admiration this Mighty Oak of God, much less thank him for the giant influence he has had on my life, and the multitude of blessings that he has brought to it. 

Pastorbuddy, congratulations on your Retirement, but you're not off the hook!