When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
(2 Kings 2:9-12)
Again, I am reminded of our Annual Conference that met Sunday through Tuesday for on the first night was the service that celebrated new pastors coming into special ministries such as new local pastors, deacons, and elders. At the service a retiring pastor will stand in the place of Elijah, and a new pastor will kneel in the place of Elisha while a cloth 'mantel' is placed by a retiring pastor on one of the new ones. Irregardless of how long one will last the loving acts of God will continue to be made through people.
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