A Word from Pastor Nathan

A woman called the church on Wednesday of last week. Diana didn’t immediately recognize the name or number on the caller ID, but she answered and patched the call through to me. The person on the phone said, “I don’t know if you remember me, but we joined the church just prior to the pandemic, and my dad has been rushed to the ER at Northwest Texas Hospital.”

And then it clicked. This person googled “Washington Avenue Christian Church” and called the first one that the search revealed. The problem is that there are two WACCs, one of which is in Amarillo, Texas; y’all know the other one. One of my college roommates was ordained in the Amarillo church, and I read scripture the day he and his wife were married there, but I hang my hat in Elyria, Ohio.

This caller, who meant to contact the Washington Avenue Christian Church in Amarillo, got a different pastor on the phone, one she didn’t expect, in a state she didn’t intend to call.

I first explained to her that she called the WACC in Elyria, but then I said, “Here’s something cool: I’m from Texas, and I went to West Texas A&M University in Canyon (10 miles south of Amarillo), and I’ve been inside the WACC of Amarillo, and I know your pastor, Jim Shelburne. If someone were to have called him instead of me, I’d want him to pray with that person. If you would like, and if you’re comfortable, I’m glad to pray with you over the phone.”

We prayed. It was real, true, and beautiful, a thin place in which the veil between this world and the next was transparent. She called it a “God Moment,” and I fully agree.

We briefly talked about our shared love of the West Texas area code 806, which y’all know are the first three digits of my cell phone number.

My best friend and I joke that all roads lead to the Texas panhandle. On Wednesday, an unanticipated caller and I further paved and consecrated that highway.

Thanks be to God!