Falling into the Well – Part 2 of My Journey

Continuing from my previous post, as Pastor Karen stood in front of the Well family professing that we were there for you, being part of the Well family was important to me. Being a Christian once again had meaning to me. I had fallen into the Well, but felt safer and more comforted than ever.

Previously, I thought the name “The Well” was a bit hokey. Wells to me represented something Timmy fell in to and Lassie had to find someone save him from it, or where a young Bruce Wayne had come to discover the bat as his alter ego. I also felt the only time Wells had meaning is when they were dried up and empty, the discussion around a Well was one of fear, anxiety and despair.

I know now that the Well is a family and while one Well may run dry, the family will always be there. This realization came in the closest moment I ever had to leaving this earth. I knew if that happened the Well would be there for both of you and your mom too.

And while the Well is the name that sits on the signage, websites and pamphlets for our church…And while for the first time in my adult life I answered that I was Methodist instead of having no religious preference when asked at the hospital…

I came to view the Well as what it was meant to me. Family, a connection to a family that a man named Jesus is a part of and a family that is there to care for one another, no matter what.

I also realized that the Well, a United Methodist Church, in Rosemount, MN is a well that embraces all and welcomes the world. And while my extended family may not be members of the well officially…They are all welcome and they all make up the expansive Well that supports all of us.

Especially your Aunt Amy, Aunt Crystal and Aunt Hope have been an important member of our well as we have gone through the trials of the last six months.

I have fallen into the Well, but I have no feelings of fear, anxiety or despair. I have feelings of comfort, hope and a future. Check that, I’ll always have anxiety, but I like to think we’re becoming better friends.

I will not be trying to escape, to crawl out of the Well. I will not be telling people they need to jump in, because I’m not that guy…yet. But I want everyone to know it is there.

Yes, 2017 was a crap sandwich and we’re almost a third of the way through 2018 and I’m two weeks post surgery to wrap up the damage to my body that started last Thanksgiving.

But a week after Easter, I finally had my Thanksgiving dinner. We were celebrating Ruth’s baptism, but it was Thanksgiving with all the fixings that were served as the meal. I couldn’t have been more thankful about how far we have come. I couldn’t have been more thankful of the family that came to celebrate.

The next day I was headed into surgery, and I was scared from the moment the decided surgery was the path. And because I felt so had strayed so far from the church I asked about being baptized. I was not rebaptized,j but following Ruth’s baptism, I was given the gift of reaffirmation of my baptism. The fear I felt did not disappear, but I did feel calmed.

As I was being sedated and falling asleep for surgery, I saw the two of you with your mom as if you were standing with me and then as I drifted off, I felt like I was being submerged in water. Then I realized I was in the Well and I would be safe.

I am two weeks from getting up for the first time since surgery. That day, I went three feet from my bed to my chair. Today, I walked about a quarter mile around our neighborhood, passing so many members of our Well. I am so blessed, and look forward to our continued adventures.