Pastor George Miner was my internship supervisor at Community Lutheran Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.  He died last week from cancer.

A true mentor is someone who believes in you, challenges you, pushes you, sees things within you that you don’t see in yourself, allows you to fail, and then helps you learn from your mistakes and try again (if you are willing to listen and change).  A mentor gives you space to grow, space to become who God created, gifted, and called you to be.  Pastor George Miner was a true spiritual mentor to me, and to many, many other people.  His mentorship and the lessons he taught me during my internship at Community Lutheran Church, a crucial year of my life and ministry, continue to shape and mold me.   In the years since serving CLC, when I have gotten lost in the wilderness because of my failures, or tempted to quit the journey altogether in the face of disappointments, I’d remember George, then say a prayer asking for God’s grace in my heart, put a song of praise on my lips, lace up my boots, tighten my pack, and keep going wherever God’s Voice would lead.  Backpacking metaphors always seem to arise when I think of Pastor George.

Pastor George showed me what it meant to have a passion for following God, especially by observing his interactions with people.  His ability to sweep people up into his enthusiasm and excitement for living the life of faith, ever growing and learning to be Jesus’ disciples in the world, was amazing to behold.  To say that George had an indomitable spirit would be an understatement.  To follow Pastor George was to experience first hand the power of the Holy Spirit in his life, not to mention the importance of a good cup of coffee.  OK, maybe not “good” coffee, just coffee, any coffee, and a lot of it!  Even if that meant drinking instant coffee grounds mixed with cold water while on the trail backpacking, bringing a new meaning to the term, “true grit.”

Of all of the wonderful opportunities and experiences serving, preaching, teaching, and growing while at Community Lutheran Church, I most looked forward to my weekly one-on-one meetings with George.  I cherished that special time I got to have with him.  I am sure the seminary gave him a handbook of topics and questions to cover, but he always seemed to have more important things to discuss.  After grabbing some more coffee, he’d close the door to his office and start talking about where and how God was working in the lives of the people in the church, and where God was leading this community of believers in ministry and mission together.  As he’d get more and more excited, his gestures would get more and more excited, splattering coffee all over the place!  But whatever the topic, issue, or ministry agenda item we discussed, Jesus Christ as always at the center; George made sure of that, for Jesus was at the center of his life, and it showed in who he was and in all he did. 

I thank God for the life, the friendship, and the ministry of George Miner, for the chance to hike along with him for just a little while.  And I hope we will all take with us the memories and lessons he taught, wherever the trail leads, until that day when we meet again on a heavenly mountain vista that will make the beauty and grandeur of the Emigrant wilderness look like a cheap copy (if you can imagine that!).  God be with you George, until we meet again.