This week I took my first medical interpreter call with Jeenie, helping someone bridge a language barrier in the middle of an ER situation. It hit me when I realized it was one of those sacred intersections where compassion, clarity, and presence become part of the care. Thank you, Micaela Chamut, for helping open that door.
This month I completed my first DOJ EOIR immigration court case with SOSi, stepping into that tense and holy place where due process, humanity, and language all collide. To stand there and help someone understand what is being decided about their life… that is holy work (holier than many church meetings I've experienced in almost 20 years of pastoral ministry). Thank you, Kamel Amireche, MBA, for being part of the lifeline that helped me enter this space with confidence and support.
At the same time, I've had the joy of mentoring my son in his first official worship-leader role — watching him step into ministry with humility, creativity, and courage. That alone could be a whole Thanksgiving post.
And somehow, in this same season, I was invited to play with the University Choir & Orchestra at William Jessup University for their upcoming Christmas concerts. Music keeps showing up as grace in my life, even as I transition into new callings and new professional paths.
But Thanksgiving isn't only about what we're grateful for today. It's also an opportunity to remember why we are grateful, and who helped us get here.
One of my coaches (thanks, Jeff Bachman!) recently shared a metaphor that I've carried with me: In snowy places, people tie a lifeline from the house to the barn so they can find their way through a storm. This past season has felt exactly like that — whiteouts, transitions, unknowns — and yet, there were people on the other end of the line holding steady so I wouldn't lose my way.
So to those who handed me a lifeline when I needed one… To those who believed in me when the path was unclear… To those who taught me, challenged me, or simply stood with me:
Steve Newman, Jim & Cheryl Eberline, Dane, the entire Vanderwerf fam, the Blykers, Carlos y Elsy, Dani y todos en Familia de Paz, Arturo and everyone at Torre, Brad and the team at Comunidad el Camino Uruguay, Roger, Hiram, Gonza, Kent Carlson…and yes, you too, Tony Campos!
And to the many more whose names could fill pages (mentors, pastors, professors, musicians, interpreters, family, friends) all of you who shaped me into who I am today and quietly showed me the ropes long before anyone else saw the journey...
I am grateful for you. You were our lifeline.
And finally, I am deeply grateful for freedom.
Freedom from former systems and dynamics that once weighed down my faith and my soul. Freedom to rediscover purpose "without fear or favor". Freedom to say out loud that uniformity leads to mediocrity. Freedom to call for transparency at every level as a christian imperative. Freedom to rebuild, reimagine, and move forward with integrity.
For the work, for the calling, for the music, for the mentors, for the unexpected doors, for the storms that clarified the path, for the lifelines that kept me anchored, for the freedom to start again…
I am grateful.