2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
There are some folks who touch your life, and you never forget them. Years later, you can see them and pick right up where you left off. Such is the case with the dear people who came by to see us today. Dr. Ron E was our pastor way back in the 1980's when we were young and raising our little kids. It was Dr. English who lead our little 5-year-old Chip to the Lord. It was Dr. English who felt the leading of the Lord to invite my dad to come to CBC and serve as Assistant Pastor. It was dear Dr. English who was our physical rock during my dad's 3-week illness and subsequent death. (God was our spiritual rock, of course.) Brenda was our much-loved Pastor's wife. She did a beautiful job of keeping the home fires burning with 4 active kids and a busy, busy husband. She was always a picture of God's grace and beauty with her quiet and meek spirit. I always admired Brenda and looked up to her (though she is about a foot shorter than me!)
What a joy when we received a Monday night phone call that they were in the area and wanted to get together on this Tuesday morning. We haven't seen them too many times in the 20 years since they left our church to follow God's will for their lives and their ministry and had last seen them in June 2004 when we traveled to GA to attend Dr. E's mother's funeral.
Today was a wonderful and refreshing breeze of God's goodness in giving us precious relationships throughout life. They arrived with their dear friend from Lillian, AL which is about 25 miles from here. We enjoyed meeting "Miss Sue" and feel like we have a new friend in the area. We visited in our home for quite a while. We had planned to have our grandsons Jarrett (15) and Josh (9) here for the day so they got to meet our beloved Pastor and Mrs. English. The boys enjoyed the cute Yorkie dog, Maddie, who came with Dr. E and Brenda. After a sweet time of fellowship in our home, we all went to Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast.
After our time of food and fellowship at Cracker Barrel, we drove Dr. E and Brenda over to the academy and then to the college so that they could see Amy and meet our other two grandchildren: Jaden (3-1/2) and Isabella (13). It was a sweet reunion with them and Amy as they had last seen her as a 13 year old!! (We knew Brian would be very busy at his job in advertising so we didn't bother him.)
After running around seeing folks, we came back to the house and had another nice time of visiting. Kay, we made a special greeting for you. I am working on getting up uploaded so you can see/hear it.
What a fun day to have spent time with these dear, dear friends (and former beloved Pastor) from the '80s. God is good!!! Here are some pics:
Josh and Jarrett both loved their sweet dog, Maddie. Jarrett is 15 and doesn't like to be in pictures ~~ even with a cute dog, but Josh (9) was happy to oblige.
There's Maddie's cute little face
Dr. E and Brenda looked wonderful and it was so good to see them and have them in our home. We last saw them in GA at his mother's funeral in June 2004.
This is their dear friend, Sue, who lives just just 20 miles from us. We now have a new friend!! I'm sorry her pretty blue eyes were closed. I couldn't tell that by looking at the display.
Got a picture of Dr. E and Brenda with Josh (holding Maddie) and Jarrett. I didn't have the camera with me when we went to three different locations so Amy could see them and they could meet Jaden and Isabella.
Back at our house after running around and having another sweet time of fellowship.
I so much enjoyed visiting with Brenda and catching up on all of their family news.
What a fun day with our precious former pastor and pastor's wife.
.JPG)
