Michael

Today I have been sitting on the back patio going through my memories. I have a near photographic memory so I have everything that has happened in my head as a memory. Actually we all do but I tend to remember all mine. Some of my memories are very vivid and I call thesemy memory bubbles. Memory bubbles are small vignettes of things from my past that are very precious and memorable. It is as if my mind has taken an internal Polaroid photo and frozen the memory. I love these memory bubbles because I can end up in the midst of any one of them just by remembering.

Many of my memory bubbles are around a dear friend of mine who I worked for and then worked with. In the last few years we were on the phone more often. During my hospital stay in January and February I would have visitors who had been on the SLC Board with me during the early days of the church. We would call Michael and tell him we were ex-Board members calling to do an intervention. In the end old friendships were renewed. Thanks to all the Board members who put up with those wonderful phone calls.

Michael was the voice of God in the Sacramento region. He was one of a kind. The moment he started speaking, you automatically trusted him. He had the voice of a trusted friend smooth and filled with compassion. It ws profound and endearing.

He had been a noted radio personality in the northwest but in the end he found the calling of the ministry. In the perfect storm of his life, as he found his calling he found his beloved and she was Faith by name and in so many ways. He used to say when you put together Faith and Michael you got one pretty good minister.

He truly birthed interfaith to a deeper level wherever he went and did so bigger than life.

He believed we should all chase our dreams with a 'yes' mentality. If our dream didn't set our knees knocking, the dream wasn't big enough. One year the church set as a goal running a half-marathon in the Redwoods. We trained as a family for a long time. Every Saturday morning we would hit the levee for our long run. Finally on the morning of the race, we met in a nearby parking lot near Eureka - all wearing SLC T-shirts. Someone walking by asked if we were a team from Salt Lake City.

About eight miles into the race, I came around a corner to a straight section of the road. It was lined on both sides with huge redwoods with canopies providing a shade cover. There was a mist in the air for it was still early. I thought I was all alone and started to sing loudly "You Are The Face Of God," a Karen Drucker song. Suddenly this wondrous voice started to sing along with me. I turned around and Michael had just turned the corner. It was just the two of us and as we ran the straightaway our duet was lifted into the heavens. It was a God moment.

I learned about sermons and putting together services and ministering from Michael. He was the ultimate compassionate being. During the weekly staff meetings, we were always amazed at the number of hosptial and home visits he would make.

He touched so many by showing up authentically. From the pulpit one Sunday, he stated, "If I should ever tell you I know how God works and shows up and wants you to do, run down the aisle for the exits. My God is every changing as I learn more and more. Let us learn together and have our personal experience of spirit.

Thank you Michael for inviting me along on the magic carpet ride. I never thought I would experience Camelot and yet we lived it together. Our culmination in 2015 was our interfaith program. We had 35 people for soup or sallad followed by 65 for our services. Michael birthed the program and his handprint was evident in each service we did that year, Thank you Michael for living such a life; you are loved beyond measure...........