Good evening, I’m Nick Minnaar and I’ve been coming to URC since my Freshman year of high school in 1992. My wife Carissa is one of the lifers here, born and raised by this community of believers. We have 7 kids who are reaping the benefits of the faithfulness of this body to our family.
I’m honored to have this opportunity to say a few words to my pastor before his departure. Clearly, I won’t be able to explain everything his 13 years of ministry have meant to me in the one and a half minutes they’ve allotted me. So, I’ll do my best to summarize and probably borrow a few minutes from whoever is after me. Besides, Kevin has trained us all how to sit for a long time and listen.
I’m saying goodbye to my pastor. It’s possible I’ll have to wait until heaven to see him again. He won’t be part of my life anymore as my pastor. This is hard. We used to get together once a week on Sunday mornings. I rarely missed our meetings and he never did unless he was away for studying or something. He would do all the talking. He never let me interrupt, I just had to sit and listen. But, he ALWAYS had some good things to say and read from the same book every week for the 13 years we’ve been meeting together. It’s pretty obvious he loves that book. He studied it for his education and then decided to make his entire career about that book. He even writes books about that book! And he goes to conferences to tell people about the book. It seems like he wants as many people in the world as possible to know about this book and what it says and what it means and how it has changed the world and people’s lives. I guess that’s ultimately why I’m saying goodbye -- because the Lord is leading him to a new people to talk about his favorite book. I’m glad for that. Sad, but glad.
I liked that book when I met Kevin 13 years ago, but I love that book now and he has a lot to do with that. When he first came to our church, I felt like I’d enrolled in seminary! I was learning Latin and Greek and Hebrew. I was interpreting scripture with scripture. I figured out what the “therefores” were there for! He even threw in English grammar lessons on indicatives and imperatives. Soon, I was seeing connections to Jesus all over the place in that book. It was making sense in a way it never had before. I was beginning to gain a new view of God -- it was an expanding view of God, who was much bigger than I’d ever thought. And my view of sin was expanding too. It was much more repulsive than I’d ever noticed. The more I met with Kevin on Sunday mornings and heard him read that book and talk about it, the more I found myself decreasing and Christ increasing.
Fast forward a few years and I got to see another side of my pastor. Kevin had given me a big view of God and his sovereignty. From Ephesians on week one, to Leviticus, to Revelation, to Mark, to Acts, to Exodus -- it’s obvious that God is in charge, of EVERYTHING. He kept talking about wanting us to be “hugging theologians”, and I was getting the theologian part loud and clear, but hadn’t thought I needed too many “hugs” from my pastor yet. Then, 3 years ago my understanding of the Lord’s sovereignty was put to the test when my daughter Louisa was born with half a heart.
She got really sick after her first heart surgery and her heart stopped when she was 4 days old. We came extremely close to losing her. But the Lord kept her and what followed were weeks of agony in the hospital and back and forth from Ann Arbor to home and a disjointed family life and nothing “normal” at all. But then the “hugs” from my pastor started coming. They came in the form of emails. Even though he was in England for some of those dark days, he kept close watch over his sick and lost sheep. Here’s a few of the email “hugs” from my pastor:
So thankful to hear this good update. You continue to be in our hearts and in our prayers.
I wish I had something more to say, but I guess I can keep saying the same thing. We love you all and are praying for you earnestly. You are completely and utterly in the Father's good hands. He loves you more than you know and loves little Louisa too.
I've been getting the updates today and hearing very good things! What a kind providence. We need to keep praying and hoping. The Lord loves precious little Louisa and has a good plan for her.
Nick and Carissa, it's been absolutely wonderful to read the positive updates on Louisa. How remarkable. The word "miracle" often gets overused, but her life qualifies. I can't wait to meet her.
Oh, the waiting must be so hard, the days must be long, and it must be very difficult to continue to be separated as a family... As it was for Jacob with Rachel may it be for you: that the time seems small because of your great love for her.
Thanks for the update. I can only imagine how nerve wracking these hours and days must be. I’m eager to see you all tomorrow.
Where exactly are you? I’m not sure of the building, floor, room number, or really anything expect that you are in Ann Arbor.
I can’t imagine how overwhelmed you must feel! If the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, I guess the Lord can sustain us to plod through all the difficulties of parenting. And you have your share.
And actually, there were quite a few more “hugs” like that (and even some real hugs in person after circling all of UofM’s medical campus for 3 hours in search of a parking spot). So, my theologian pastor knew how to hug me when I was down, lost, scared. He encouraged me to faithfully plod and not despise the days of small things. I’m gonna miss him and I’m gonna miss those hugs.
Louisa was in the ICU for about a month after she almost died. Every night we said goodnight to her and went to our room to sleep. There was nothing we could do. We had to turn her over to the Lord’s expert care and have faith. I knew it was a very real possibility each night when I said goodnight to her that I might not say good morning the next day. So, I figured I’d leave her each night with a blessing I frequently heard from my pastor. He learned it from that book he likes so much.
Numbers 6:24-26 English Standard Version
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace... Now and forevermore. Amen.
I used to reach around all her tubes and wires and rub her little head and whisper that great big blessing to her, knowing I was leaving her in the very strong arms of her heavenly father. So many times my pastor spread his long Dutch arms up to heaven at the end of our Sunday meetings and at the same time seemed to be wrapping them around me, around all of us. It’s as if he was turning us over to the Lord for the week, knowing he was leaving us in very capable hands.
So, Kevin, Trisha, Ian, Jacob, Elsie, Paul, Mary, Benjamin, and Tabitha, it is our joy to leave you in very capable hands with this same blessing:
The Lord bless you and keep you...
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