“In my second sermon here—way back in September of 2018—I preached about my

two pet turtles, the Song of Songs, and love. It was a pretty good sermon.

I re-read that sermon a few weeks ago, because I wanted to know if anything

had changed. I wanted to know much these two years of ministry alongside

you had changed what I thought, had changed who I was.

Not very much, it turns out. And unimaginably.”