journeys-page

Next Sunday, I will start my eighth year as Senior Pastor at Trinity. We’ve had several Associate Pastors in my time so far: Russ, Dave, Kalaba, and now Anny. On July 1st, my wife, Rev. Cindy Karges, also will start her final year of an eight-year term as District Superintendent of the Gateway and Great West Districts. It’s hard to believe that eight years ago, we were packing up our parsonage in Hastings to move up the road to our small rental house in Grand Island. Since I graduated from seminary at Duke Divinity School in 1984, we’ve had seven ministerial moves across two conferences (Fremont/North Bend/Hooper, Charleston, SC, Ainsworth/Johnstown, Seward/Beaver Crossing, Beatrice, Hastings/Doniphan/Rosedale, Grand Island). Did I mention that I hate moving? Most of you know that I have two brothers and a Dad who are also United Methodist ministers. So whoever moves that year saves boxes and wardrobes to pass on to the next mover. Things get messed up if two of us move in the same year. We also have the tradition of everybody coming to help clean the old house (and sometimes the new one) before the truck arrives. We each have our specialties: Mom and Dad washed windows, brother Casey vacuums, and brother Todd breaks down bed frames and puts them back up. Cindy and I and Todd’s wife Dianne pack up the kitchen. The move here was the first one without kids. So there was considerable downsizing. We also lucked out to find a house with a huge garage to store all our kids’ stuff in big plastic totes. My predecessor, Rev. Theresa Mason, and I were already friends from carpooling back and forth to spiritual retreats and St. Benedict’s in Schuyler. So we spent that June/in-between/moving time back and forth between our two houses; trading boxes, packing, and unpacking in the transition. We have been through a lot in my seven years here: funerals, weddings, baptisms, and especially COVID. Many times the folks you get closest to are the ones who have the most trauma in their lives. I look forward to year number eight at Trinity. You never know what’s going to come down the pike. But I do know that this is the year, the kitchen gets redone! Thank you in advance to a great group of Trinity Trustees!! Grace & Peace,