Words to remember

I have been blessed with many good pastors in my life. Each one of them played a part in my life, but there are some who repeated the same wisdom so often that I think of them whenever I hear it. Two of the best are retiring this summer, which made me think about how blessed I've been.

The first pastor I remember was Pastor Jim Duncan of Dale City Baptist Church in Virginia, the church where I was saved and baptized at age 8. He preached using an overhead projector, so I learned to take notes at a young age! Because of him I have a timeline in my brain that goes from eternity past to eternity future. The phrase that makes me think of him is, “Relax and let God.” My Dad led music here! And while he was never in vocational ministry, he taught me more than I have time to write here. His name is in my Bible beside the verses he quoted often at this church: "...be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord..."  (Ephesians 5: 18-19)

Bro. Al Meredith, at Wedgwood Baptist in Fort Worth, taught me so much. His last Sunday there is August 9. Of course I remember him saying, “Once a Wedgie, always a Wedgie.” He gave Mike and I premarital counseling before we got married, and gave a lot of good advice. But tragedy has a way of searing things into your brain, and his name is written in my Bible next to the verses he quoted to the media after eight people were killed in a shooting at Wedgwood in 1999: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." (2 Corinthians 4: 8-10)

Jess Little was the first pastor I had who was younger than me--but I still learned from him! Whenever I read Colossians 1:15, I think of him: "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son..."

When I was in college, my parents helped plant Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas. I went there on weekends and summers, but it wasn't until years later that I was a full-time member--with Mike and our three daughters! But I always loved hearing Bro. Dave preach-even though I had to listen fast! He also retired this summer, and I was reminded of two of his sayings at his last Sunday: "All means all!" and "The Bible isn't the main authority, it's the only authority." But my favorite Dave-ism is how he had new members face the congregation, all with their hands in the air and smiles on their faces, and say, "So-and-so, look around--you see people who love you and will be faithful to pray for you..."

My current pastor is Mike Seabaugh, another great preacher. He is teaching a series this year on spiritual armor, and last year's was on the fruit of the Spirit, both of which are excellent. But the words that will forever make me think of him are "one thing," from the year he challenged all of us to read the Bible through using the One Year Bible. Philippians 3:13-14 says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

My husband has ministered to college students for 25 years. My Mike verse is 2 Peter 1:3, which says, "...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

How blessed I am!