Yesterday, I wrote about Pastor James Conley, Delta, Colorado, and our brush with tradition. We wanted to dismiss the service; they wanted to sing their last, planned song. It would have been OK either way, and we sang the song. James handled it with his usual grace, and that’s what I want to write about today.

My sermon topic for that Saturday service in Austin as well as the two Sunday services in Delta was Join the Adventure! which you can if you:

• Be there
• Pay attention
• Do what you can
• Tell the truth

No one embodies “pay attention, do what you can” than James. His antenna is up all the time to do what needs to be done. For example, when I asked if I could sit down at that Saturday service, and he agreed, I went in looking for a chair. By the time I found one, James had already put it where it needed to be! One step ahead. Here is a picture of James as we were getting ready to go into the Austin church on Saturday:

I’m amazed at his stamina. I was concerned about speaking five times in one weekend, but that was nothing compared to his workload. He picked up June and me for dinner when we arrived Friday night. I didn’t know he was returning from helping the youth get settled in for their weekend campout. An hour and forty-five minutes…one way! He drove the round on trip Friday and again on Saturday when he took me out there to speak to the young people. I wrote about some of what I shared back on August 17. Between my two talks on Saturday morning, while I was resting, he was visiting with someone he was concerned about.

Sensitivity? There’s a reason I’m not a pastor. When we were deep in the mountains, nearly to the campground, James got a call from a parishioner who wanted to know when June was speaking so she could go hear her. The lady heard about June when James asked for prayer for her AT THE SAME TIME that I was speaking to that group in Austin! June had spoken hours before. But James was patient in explaining that June had already spoken. So the lady went into some family issues, and “Why didn’t this person…?” Of course, James has no idea of all the ins and outs of her family relationships, but he continued to talk with her even though we expected to lose signal any minute. He talked with her for about 30 minutes. I would have given her five and told her we were about to lose signal as I signed off!

Back to paying attention, as we were leaving the restaurant Friday night, a proverbial little old lady sat in a booth off in a corner. I don’t know how he even saw her, but she got his attention, and as June and I walked out, James was praying with her.

Finally, back to flexibility, there were a lot of moving parts in the Sunday services in Delta. James saw a way to improve the flow and between the first service and the second, he changed the order. And because the crowd was a bit smaller at the second service, he administered communion differently, and as we dismissed, encouraged the folks to apply one of the points of the sermon. “Are there people you’re standing near that you don’t know? Go meet them.”

It was a pleasure to serve with him. June and I both enjoyed our time immensely even though it was a hard trip. James was an inspiration.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4.9, ESV)

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11.1, ESV)