Not Goodbye - It's So Long

Today, we were able to celebrate a man who has served as pastor of the church that is our troop and pack's sponsoring organization.  Today was Pastor's final celebration with this particular church, and it was a very nice send off.

For our troop's part, we had six adults and one scout in attendance, but the way we were welcomed, you would have thought we were 50 scouts strong.  They had their regular service, and then they had a service to release the pastor from his ministerial obligations at that church.  It was all quite nice.  During the releasing part of the service, we as scouts were able to go up in the front of the church along with some top ranking ministers of the church's parent organization.

I was pleased to be a part of the celebration, and was chosen to be spokesperson for the scouting contingent.  As unit chaplain for the troop, I have worked with the pastor the last 3 or 4 years preparing the program for use with the annual Scout Sunday celebration.  Each year, pastor came up with a theme that our scouts could ponder, and make meaningful contributions at the Scout Sunday service.  He was a great mentor to me, and helped keep us on track, so the scouts could be successful delivering their take on whatever the theme happened to be.

He was a good friend to our scouts and scouters, always approachable and willing to helpful if needed.  We had more than one scout lead projects around the ground at various times.  It was a win/win all the way around.

As Pastor moves on to new adventures, we don't say goodbye.  For us, it's so long, until we meet again.

I had to smile through mixed emotions.  It was a good day.