On the way to Cedar Point...

I was driving out to Cedar Point with Ben and Tessa several Saturdays ago (proximity to Cedar Point is one of the reasons I love Toledo) when I passed a McDonalds near Sandusky, Ohio, which usually stirs emotion in me on the infrequent occasions that I pass it.

It was over dinner at that McDonalds on July 10, 2001 that I first met with a representative of the PCA (who had driven an 75 miles from his job in Cleveland to meet me midway between Cleveland and Toledo) to discuss the possibility of the new church we were forming coming into the PCA. We had been through battle upon battle over the course of several years dealing with our former denomination's betrayal of the Gospel. We were officially closing the church we had pastored for thirteen years, giving our new building back to the denomination rather than face a promised lawsuit over ownership and starting afresh with a group of elders committed to the authority of the Word of God.

And the man I first met with at that McDonalds, Fred Greco, remains a dear friend to this day. Fred, then chairman of Great Lakes Presbytery's Candidates and Credentials Committee, shepherded me through a views examination turned at the last moment into a full ordination exam without a hint of nastiness, stood by me on the floor of presbytery when I had momentary lapses on both the number of persons vs. the number of essences of the Trinity and the "I" of TULIP, and ultimately transitioned himself from an eager University of Michigan lawyer to a humble PCA pastor.

And yes, Fred is humble--humble enough to fight for what he believes. He and I disagree occasionally. He disapproves of certain people I love. I tell him he dislikes them because he's like them. But this is immaterial today, as I look back on the upcoming anniversary of that providential meeting.