Ode to Pastor J.

Loosing someone you love has a way of changing the way an individual sees the world. Before my older sister passed away, I was still encapsulated in the stage of childhood that feels as if you are standing at the very center of the world. Life was simple. I was living in a loving supportive home with my two siblings, hard-working salt of the earth father and dutiful devoted mother homemaker and a home cooked meal every night of the week. We even had the tradition of Pot Roast and all the trimmings every Sunday. My life was in balance.

The summer of 1983 marked the point in the shift of my life perspective with the earthquake that was the death of my sister. While I was always aware of the health problems that she had with her heart, I wasn't aware of the severity of her illness that July that I was packing for my annual trip to my church camp in Ohio. There was a conversation that I held with my sister before I departed for my "week away", where I asked her if she was ok with my going away as she had been ill lately. She told me not to be silly and that I had to go. Had I understood how sick she was, I never would have left that balmy summer day. My sister knew that too, that is why she told me to go.

I attended almost half of my session at camp that summer before I got a phone call from home telling me that I needed to get to the hospital in Pittsburgh as soon as possible. The tremor had just begun to hit.

I was thankful for my church's pastor being the guest pastor at camp that week. Pastor J. had baptized both my sister and I on the same day just the spring before and he was my favorite pastor that I recall from my childhood. I packed my bags and Pastor packed his and we left before ten in the morning to depart for the hospital more than an hour away. We didn't talk much during the drive to Pittsburgh. I stared out the window and tried to read a book as he adjusted the radio stations to my liking along the way. Pastor J. was able to be there for my family and I during a time that we needed someone, anyone to help make a crisis like this seem less disastrous, less insane, less painful. His actions define the art of pastoral care in a way that goes beyond the call of duty. Pastor J. was good at being there.