Thots On Moving On

Well, that’s it.  A chapter in my life comes to a close.  A great chapter, but sadly, a closed one now.  All that’s left is a final Bible study on Wednesday and a Sunday full of goodbyes.  I hate good byes.  Leaving South Main Baptist Church is painful.  The people are wonderful, they love me and my family, and I’ll miss them.

Then there’s the look forward – to Bakersfield, MO.  A new chapter opens and a new life ahead – with different people in a different place, but with the same problems and needs.  The ministry approach and demands may change, but the result should be the same – to strengthen their faith, teach them the Word, lead the lost to Christ, and to love them as God loves them.  The setting is beautiful – the Ozarks of South Central Missouri.  The fishing is great – trout, bass, bream and crappie.  The hunting is good – deer, pheasant, etc.  If fishing for men is as good, and the hunting for the lost is as abundant as Hinesville, the blessings will be beyond description.  

But I’d like to invite everyone to come visit us in Bakersfield.  We’ll set you up handsomely in our home for the night – or pay for your motel room.  We’ll treat you to a good old fashioned mountain home getaway experience where you can get closer to the Lord and away from the world.  I believe you’ll love the time, and we’ll love the company!  As you leave, you’ll hear us say along with the Beverly Hillbillies, “Ya’ll come back now, ya’ here!”

I trust that this new chapter will be as exciting as the last.  But I hope the people we’ve come to love here in Hinesville will not stay strangers.  Email and digital photos are terrific new advances – and we hope that you’ll all rise to the technology and keep in touch.  I even promised to take a digital photo of a friend and another of me in snow, crop me out and put him in – send it back to him so he could know what he looked like in winter.  My kids have never seen snow.  Can you just imagine your family in snow?  I can make it happen – without the chill!  Smile – and trust our Lord with all your heart.  We’ll all see one another again in heaven when we do.