Today was a very unique day. I want to share a special moment that Rocky and I had today that will leave a lasting impression on our hearts, forever. Today, we visited Christian Life Center, my home church where I grew up in under the amazing leadership of Reverend Kenneth F. Haney. As most know (but in case you don’t) Bishop Haney passed 11/10/11 and it has been a tremendous loss not only to his family but to the people who respected him and who were blessed to call him Pastor.
After today’s beautiful service, his son, Pastor Nathaniel Haney took the time to sit and chat with people and allowed them to share their thoughts or whatever it was they had to say with him. I thought to myself, do I dare go up there, bother him during this time of grieving and heaviness. I looked over at Rocky and asked him what he thought and he said, “let’s go up there”….and off we went, hand in hand. As we got up there, we both went back and forth. What do you say to such a Godly man who is grieving the loss of his Father, a great man of God?! Once we walked up to him he smiled big and said, “Well hi there! How are you two?!” Rocky said were hanging in there and then Pastor Haney went onto asking some personal questions and I chimed in and said, “wait, this isn’t what were up here for!” He chuckled and with tears in his eyes responded with, “but I WANT to know”. Rocky and I both got emotional. Here is a broken man, grieving yet still trying to feed the need of the people. I shared a brief story with him of how his Father, Bishop Haney decided one day when I was 11 that although my name was Sophia, he was going to call me Sofie because that was his Grandmother’s name. Bishop winked at me and asked, “Is that ok?” From then on, I was always Sofie to my Pastor. Pastor Nathaniel smiled real big and appreciated the story and he ended the very deep intense conversation with, “I want you two to know, this week, I will be praying for you”. I walked away knowing this was true and feeling so humbled as even in HIS brokenness HE is still building people up. Amazing.
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