Investing for Eternity

    I cannot thank the Lord enough for the faithful, godly servants
of the church that over the years have spent countless hours,
expended exorbitant amounts of energy, invested much fi-
nancially and so much more to have a part in my life for the
name of Christ. The list of people is actually quite sizable af-
ter 48 years of having grown up and remained in the church
without interruption. Some of the beloved names would in-
clude Pastors and Evangelists who imparted the Word of
God to my heart thousands upon thousands of times, Sunday
School teachers that committed themselves to sharing the
truth week after week and year after year, Camp Counselors
who lost sleep for a week to open the Bible with me, and to
top it all off, each of those men and women opened their
hearts to me along the way. They made a shared effort to
pass along to the next generations what they knew of God
and His Word. In addition, there were those that relayed
God's truth and love more informally (widows in the church
that stuck a $20 into my hand as a poor college student, dea-
cons that prayed with me or took me along on visitation, etc.),
yet had no less impact by their actions and words.
    I came to love and look forward each time to those gather-
ings of believers each and every Sunday, Wednesday, and
on other special occasions. I longed to reciprocate the love
that I had been shown so often. In seeing their faithfulness,
wanted to be just like those dear saints in being always dedi-
cated to the Word fo Truth, fellowship of believers whenever
they joined together, and humble service wherever needed.
Their example bred a love for God and His church. I would
have never, nor ever have, even given it a thought to leave
the bounds of a Bible-believing Baptist church. I had found
the place, and most importantly, the people that were surren-
dered to the God I had come to love, and devoted to His
teachings that I had come to treasure. All praise to God for
the faithful servants who willingly and lovingly divested of
themselves in order to invest in me!