Thank you

I grew up attending a church that had dance. At 15 I started on the woman's dance group and was one of the white clad worshipers leaping about the church. There was much about that time that was ill fitting and akward. I felt under constant scrutiny from some of the church leaders due to my drift toward the Goth culture and toward theatre. The associate pastor's name was Wayne Chalk. And for a long time I felt like I must have been the bane of his existence. I typically came tromping in on a Sunday dressed in the white marshmallow dress that I had accessorized with my black leather jacket and my untied Doc Martens to unceremoniously plop on the floor to change into ballet shoes. Looking up on several occasions I would find that he had just looked over at me. If I had a flag and was sent to dance with it in the isles, I more often than not hit Wayne with it. In fact I felt that at any moment I could be doing something a little out of decorum it would be for the presentation of Wayne Chalk. I just assumed I kinda annoyed him.

Coming home from my second year of YWAM I needed to complete some counseling I had started. He had been one of the people in the room praying and talking with me when he stopped to ask me a question.

"do you think that I don't like you?"
This had kind of been out of the blue so I just went with it and confessed my suspicions that I was probably annoying and that he had been hit too many times by my flag waving.
"Sometimes I need to be hit with a flag." was his reply.
From that time on he went out of his way to say hi to me, to tell me that he was happy I was there. To encourage me in many things.

I found out this evening that he passed away on monday.


Because I find myself having to grieve far away from those who knew him, I just want to say it out so someone hears me.
  Thank you Wayne for being a  real encounter of what approval is like. Your willingness to show me love and encouragement has been part of why I can believe that God approves of me.