Faithfulness!

Image by M.H.ick9s via Flickr

Just these past two months we at FBC Lake Orion have lost some of our faithfuls. Three that come to mind when I think of "faithfulness" are Ed and Gerty Stewart and Fin Kennedy. These three saints had a great impact on my life.

Fin was a part of my salvation experience. I told him just days before he went to glory, "I tell people that I was saved because of a 'Finnish handshake". He stared at with a puzzled look. I explained that it was because of his friendly greeting to my brother and his family so many years ago that my family became a part of First Baptist Church. It was about two and a half years later that I asked Jesus to be my Savior.

With tears in his eyes he said, "I'm so glad that you shared that with me while I was still alive!"

Gerty Stewart impacted my life when she started a youth choir. At the time she was in her 50s but she had a burden to see teens use their voices for the Lord. She lead the choir and Sandy Bogart gave a devotional each week. I was 18 or 19 and didn't have much spiritual direction. But, God used that choir and our singing journeys to other churches as a part of our eventual move to the mission field in Brazil.

The Stewarts and Kennedys were faithful to the Lord for a combined 350 years (if you add Fin's wife Jerry too)! Praise the Lord and may we take up that mantle of faithfulness in our church attendance, prayer life, time in the Word, and witnessing!