Well…here we go…This is my first newsletter article as your new pastor. I’ll admit, I’m full of mixed emotions right now. Let me try to explain.
Last week on vacation, we watched one of my favorite childhood movies, The Sandlot. I vividly remember going to the $1.00 theater in Lenoir, NC, with my dad to watch it on the big screen. We may or may not have snuck in our own popcorn, drinks, and candy in a duffle bag. I’ll only speak to that after I’m sure the statute of limitations has run out… Set in the summer of 1962, the movie follows Scotty Smalls, a young boy who moves to a new neighborhood. Having no time to make friends before school let out, Smalls is desperate to find a point of connection with the neighborhood boys. He is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy, Benny Rodriguez, and eventually his rowdy team. The team share many adventures, play a never-ending game of baseball, and eventually have to take on the massive dog on the other side of the homerun fence known as “The Beast.”
Early on, the team wants nothing to do with Smalls, but Benny is determined. In a classic scene, Smalls shamefully asks Benny, “How do I catch it?” Benny replies, “Just stand out there and stick your glove out in the air. I’ll take care of it.” Benny returns to home plate and hits a pop-fly right into the glove of the waiting Smalls who is quietly chanting, “Please catch it!” with his eyes closed. Joy and euphoria fill the young Smalls who cannot contain his smile. He caught it, he actually caught it. Typing this article, I have the excitement of Scotty Smalls. I caught the pop-fly. This is a huge, life-changing season for me and my family. We could not be more excited.
At the same moment, I’m like a dog who was chasing a car and caught it. It is the feeling of “now that I have this two-ton vehicle in my mouth, what in the world do I do now?!”
I’m excited, nervous, curious…all the feelings that I should probably have are absolutely present. In reflecting on these feelings of our new season here at PSBC, I thought about the feelings that some of the earliest Disciples must have had going through their hearts and minds. In the Gospel of John chapter 1, we see two disciples of John the Baptist literally follow Jesus around one day. When the two ask Jesus where He is staying, Jesus replies in John 1:39, “Come and you will see.” Our church is at a “Come and you will see” moment. Not because of my arrival here as pastor, but because I believe with everything I have that God is doing something special in our midst. I believe that if we as a church stay united in Christ and focus on growing His Kingdom, God will do a mighty work here in this place and in our community. This work will be, as the apostle Paul writes (Ephesians 3:20), “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…”
This is an exciting new season here at Poplar Springs. Come and you will see.
Grace and peace,
Aaron