What a
Ride!
BY EDWARD E. MOODY
Chloe and I pulled out of LaGrange, North Carolina, early on August 31, 2019. A brown dachshund who thought she was the protector of our family, I couldn’t help but wonder how she would handle the trip. Passing Raleigh, I decided to stop one last time at my favorite coffee shop: Cup A Joe. The shop had just opened when I began to visit as a new student at North Carolina State University 27 years earlier. I’d stopped there many times while making the trip to North Carolina Central University in Durham. I often made final adjustments to my Wednesday night Bible studies there. I got my coffee, and Chloe and I were set. It was the first time I’d paused over the previous weeks. My mind wandered back to my last day as pastor of Tippett’s Chapel. We had already said our goodbyes, but our last day fell on Wednesday. We continued our regular activities, and I concluded the final lesson for our adult Bible study series. Earlier that day, I had visited the UNC Burn Center to see a church neighbor who had been severely burned. It was like everything had come full circle. Early in our ministry, I had tried to interact with him and there, in those last hours, we were talking about Jesus. I had started at Tippett’s Chapel on a Thursday. Nineteen years and two months later, I ended on Wednesday. As we rolled west, I thought about the ups and downs, and the way God worked. I looked over at Chloe and thought, “What a ride!”
It was hard to believe how everything fell into perfect place. We packed our home, closed on one house, and bought another and moved almost simultaneously. Chloe stayed with my parents while Lynne set up the house in Nashville, and Mitchell moved into the dorm at Welch College for his freshman year. After a weekend in Nashville, I caught a plane back to North Carolina and spent a final week in Chapel Hill, finishing up my work at North Carolina Central University. On my last day at NCCU, students and faculty kept coming by the office, and I felt there was so much more to do. I just couldn’t get things wrapped up. Finally, a long-time faculty member and close friend remarked, “It will never end until you go.” So, I said my goodbyes and walked out the door, almost 24 years to the day since I had begun my
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