Five hundred words to encapsulate four years. Doesn’t seem possible.

It was four years ago this weekend, friends, that we started this journey together. Borne from a simple idea about a weekly column viewing faith through everyday stories and circumstances. What a trip it’s been!

You’ve witnessed two more of our kids leave the nest, and our youngest start her senior year in high school.

You’ve consoled me through the loss of our mother, two brothers and a beloved husky named “Cody” in that short time too. For that I’ll be forever grateful.

You’ve supported me through a career change that if had been left up to me, wouldn’t have happened. But here I am now, getting to wear my pastoral identity all day long!

We’ve enjoyed laughs; shared tears; and helped hold each other’s anger. You’ve helped me see Jesus in the actions of so many others, and reminded me on the days when my own spirits were at their lowest that this life is still beautiful and precious even when everything feels broken.

We even almost took a trip to Israel together! What?!?

You’ve given me the space to tell stories, and share reflections. And even after writing 200-plus columns in the past four years (this is 208!), just when I think I have no more words to share … well, the Holy Spirit somehow delivers more inspiration at the exact right moment.

Friends, I am most grateful for those of you who have written to me in exchange. Notes in which you’ve shared stories that moved me to tears, or sometimes just a kind work and some even to just “test” me a bit. Maybe to see if this newspaper pastoral persona is the same as the behind-the-scenes Pastor D?

I also think it important to give a nod to all of the newspapers who find this column worthy of the space you give it each week. Having newspapered for 30 years, I know how precious that real estate on the page is. I was maybe a little skeptical four years ago that a lot of publishers would give space to a column that explored faith through a less-than-theological lens, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. And I’m grateful to each of you.

So where to now, eh?

Well, I hope that you’ll continue this adventure with me. I hope that you’ll continue to let me tell stories, and that you’ll do the same with me. I hope that you’ll give me the room to continue to advocate for those without voices, and give me grace when you think I’ve misstepped.

But most of all, I hope that every single week I can fill you with the feeling that you are the uniquely and wonderfully created person you were meant to be.

You are loved, and you are worthy of that love. Amen.

Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.