About 35 years ago I started working a 5 year stent at Target. During that time, I became good friends with many of my coworkers. We would get together, celebrate milestones, camp, and even travel together. We had a lot of fun, but also had serious life conversations. From early on, we always called one of the guys Fr. Jim. As it turned out, he went to Medjugorje where he felt God calling him to become a priest. He attended seminary in Rome, where he actually met now St. Pope John Paul II and St. Mother Teresa. It was a blessing to attend his ordination 25 years ago. This weekend was the celebration of his anniversary. The festivities were held in the town of his current parish about 2 hours away. I was so happy to be able to go and 5 of us made the trip. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the church and were told that the front pew was reserved for us. It was beautiful to participate at Mass with him as presider. At the dinner, Fr. Jim introduced everyone. When he came to our Target table, we all cheered for him and ourselves as he said that we were some of the first people to encourage him to become a priest. We met many other wonderful people there and visited with some of them at the hotel later that night. In the morning, before we parted ways, we recognized how wonderful it was to be all together and how much we all needed the uplifting getaway. We are an eclectic group of individuals who God put together as employees in a department store. Now 35 years later, we are blessed indeed with the friendship and support of one another.

I Found God today in an uplifting weekend.