Statement
to the Elders and Members of the Covington Church of Christ:
In his book The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R.
Tolkien has the hobbit Bilbo Baggins say on the occasion of his eleventy-first birthday, “I feel I need a holiday, a very long holiday…probably
a permanent holiday: I don’t expect I shall return. In fact, I don’t mean to…I
feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean; like butter that has
been scraped over too much bread…”
Lord willing, December 4 will mark our 18th anniversary
as your preacher. For some time now, Linda and I have been thinking prayerfully
about the time when we would no longer be part of the Covington church—a time
when we would retire, to let younger or at least other blood complete whatever good works we may have begun here.
For many reasons we have concluded that the time has come.
We have informed the elders, that
effective with the last “amen” on Sunday morning, August 25, 2013 -- if the
Lord be willing and grant us that much time -- our years as preacher for the
Covington church will come to an end. That date is nine months into the future and
is chosen to give you and the elders sufficient time to find, engage and
prepare our replacement. The date should provide an easy transition for a
family with school-aged children, if such a family becomes your choice.
We will schedule
an Estate Sale to be held during the summer. As of now, our plans—which may
well change between now and then—are to be kind of like snowbirds, and travel
with the seasons as much as possible. Then, when we grow bored with that or it
becomes necessary, we plan to move into a retirement community and as Bilbo
wrote: live “happily ever after to the
end of (our) days.”
We love you
and thank you for loving us and being patient with us for so many years. We
have enjoyed watching many of you grow up and watching your children grow up.
We have walked some extremely joyful paths on the mountaintops with you, and
traveled some deeply mournful and sad valleys with you as well. You have been
on our minds and hearts for nearly 20 years now. That will not change. You will
always be in our minds and in our hearts…wherever we go and whatever happens to
us.
But now it is time for us to move
on. We ask that you pray fervently for your elders and stand behind them. This transition
may prove to be a difficult task for them—we pray it is not. They need and
deserve your utmost cooperation and most fervent prayers.
Again, we love you
Roger & Linda
Hate to see this happen. But, I am selfish. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
ReplyDeleteLove you my brother.
Britt
It took me a few days to respond to this but here is My Humble Opinion . Are you NUT'S , Do you actualy think God will Allow someone of your talent to Slack off . He's Cornered me More than once an He will do the same for you my friend , The True Church Needs People of your learning too badly for you to be that of which your aiming . Do you Honestly think you will be happy or find Joy doing a Job (or No Job) with the burning desire to Do God's work in your heart ,I hate to tell you this but your foolin yourself if you think so , that being said it is your choice but I think your making a bad one but I will honor your decision to do so , but be warned it prolly aint gonna work like you think ,t
ReplyDeleteI am so thrilled for you and Linda. What a wonderful opportunity. You could always be a "Circuit" Preacher "Have Bible, Will Travel". I believe what ever your path, be it the pulpit or not, you will be LIVING the Lord's work and bringing him to those you meet. Love you!
ReplyDelete