Ode to a friend
This really isn’t an “ode” since thats a poem to someone that is usually recited and that would be weird and creepy, but I do have something that I feel really needs said…
To Eddie & Kristi and Jim & Jessie:
Thanks. Thanks more than I can say. Thanks doesn’t even begin to touch it, in fact it almost diminishes what is actually in my heart to say to each of you. You are so much more to me than a staff, or partners or co-workers, you are my fuel, my inspiration, my challenge, my companions and on and on and on……Thanks for your creativity, your willingness to fight with me (even when I’m right), the absolute passion that you approach everything with, and your understanding when I am difficult, down, or lets be honest, moody.
Some of you Wellers may not know that I worked for nearly 4 years to get these two families here. I looked over the entire church landscape and these are the men and women I choice to invest my life with.
Thanks for coming along side of us and making us who God intended.
To Johnny & Beth and Charlie & Sharen:
Thank you. Thank you for believing in me and this vision long before I convinced Ed or Jim to finally come. Thanks for being there when we were literally the only ones here. You were our original investers, the author of our name, the worker and organizer of every outreach, the band, the office, the financial secretary, the accountant, the IT dept. and on and on and on….Your faithfulness, friendship and generosity not only bore the weight of this community but literally kept Carrie and my head above water and our hearts filled with hope. Without any of you there would be no Well. Thank You.
Some of you may not know that Johnny and Beth uprooted their family and left everything and everyone they knew to come up here from Arkansas to help us plant this church. And that I prayed for an entire year DAILY after meeting Charlie and Sharen for them to come and be part of the church. P.S. Sharen was easy, surprisingly Charlie was the holdout! Sorry Charlie.
To Len & (getto) Bec
Thanks for the laughs, thanks for the challenge, thanks for your ability to work and sacrifice for a community that needs your gifts, thanks for your creativity, thanks for your honest questions and your demand for excellence. Thanks for coming last and never letting it deter you but staying with it and pushing into God and our community. Thanks for allowing me to be part of your growth, thanks for all the time you and your family gives to see that this community is healthy.
Many of you may not know that Len is the ……most frugal man in the world, but it is his keen insight that has helped us grow and provided for the needs of so many families in financial need, and that it has been Bec’s vision that has done more to affect the physical character and identity of our church than anyone else. They are also responsible for such outreaches as the Swedish Days Parade, that have helped us gain favor in the community. Len is also Dutch….I have nothing else to say about that.
To Carrie and my Kids:
Thanks for believing in me even when I wasn’t so sure myself. Thanks for seeing something in me and in my dream that caused you to give me confidence to try the ridiculous. Thanks for all the late nights, dinners without me, missed trips, broken promises, and so many other things you gave me grace on even when I didn’t deserve it. You are my strength, my heart, my song, my laughter and my life. I wouldn’t even want to try without each of you.
Carrie has been the woman of my dreams since I met her when we were 16 years old. It took the Lord doing a huge work in my life and 5 years to finally catch her eye, but I got her.
To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Thanks for the best group of friends and family anyone could ever ask for. Thanks for a dream that forced me to learn to depend on you for everything. Thanks for, what has to be, the best faith community in the world. Thanks for your faithfulness and your direction. Thanks for never giving up on me.
Many of you may not know, I am actually Jesus’ favorite!
