A New Birth, Part II

The time finally arrived when our birth daughter. Lisa, turned 18. It was December of her senior year in high school, and she was a very active and involved student. In talking with her parents, we decided to wait a few more months to have our first phone call and meeting. All four of us agreed that, with school and applying for college, we didn't want to add to her stress.
Unfortunately, she got the impression that we did not WANT to meet her. Sometimes things get "lost in translation". When we realized that she thought that, we got on the phone IMMEDIATELY and called her, to let her know that was NEVER our intention.
You want to talk about surreal? I remember hearing her voice on the phone for the first time. I was so scared that she would hate us for giving her up, that she would not understand why or how we did so. But she was wonderful, and very understanding. You could tell just talking to her what a wonderful job her parents had done. Soon we set up a time for her and her father to coome out to Virginia and visit us. She was excited to meet us, and our children, and to get to come to church to hear me preach.
The first people to tell were our children. We called my daughter into the living room and told her we had something to tell her. No, we said, we are not getting a divorce. Her reply stunned us: "Oh, are you gonna tell me you guys had a love child?" We were floored-she was just making a joke, but she could tell right away by our stunned expressions that, yes, that was the case. She went to her room and cried for awhile, then slowly asked questions about the whole thing over the next few days. Our son was excited to learn that he had another sister. Of couse, he was full of questions, too.
Well, now I had to tell some other people about all of this. Being a fairly smart UMC minister, one of the first people I called was my District Superintendent. He was very understanding, his main concern was how my church would react. I then called together the members of the Pastor-Parish Committee and laid out the whole story. They were behind us 100%. Then, the next Sunday, at the end of the service, I asked everyone to sit back down, that I had something to tell them. I started off by joking that "No, I have not committed a crime and I'm not going to jail" When the laughter stopped, I told them our story, and that in two weeks, Lisa and her father would be with us in church. I finished with a prayer, then headed for the backdoor to greet people.
Now, I think it would be fair for me and the church to say that our four years together were often difficult. But they could not have been more kind and loving in their response to us. Oh, I heard a few whispers, but fewer than I expected. Remember, I am a minster. I know fully well that the church can sometimes become the most un-Christian place to be. Sad, but it happens sometimes.
Tomorrow I will talk about that first meeting and visit, and the blessing that all of this has been.
As Clarence Goodbody told George Bailey "You really had a wonderful life!"
God bless.