To say that we were surprised this past Sunday when this congregation honored Judie and me after our morning services is an enormous understatement. We were not aware that anything was about to happen. As we have read the album you gave to us with hundreds of letters filled with the outpouring of the love you have in your hearts toward us, our own hearts have been filled with immeasurable gratitude.
Who would have ever dreamed that we would have spent the vast majority of our lives being part of Palm Beach Lakes! Your love and devotion to truth has enabled all of us to grow in the image of Christ. I know of no other congregation like PBL.
We have shared so much together. We have won many battles and also shared heartbreaks together. We have seen souls led to the Lord together. We have seen wayward souls brought back to a renewed relationship (sometimes after they had been away for many years) together. We have seen babes in Christ and sometimes even mature Christians struggle and leave the Lord, and we worked to restore them together. We have seen great marriages begin and flourish with success together. We have grieved over failure of marriages together. We have seen young people grow into great servants of God and also have agonized as some failed to grow together. We have spent time in waiting rooms outside of intensive care units together. We have wept at funerals together. We have walked away from gravesites with great hope together. We have reared our sons and daughters and have been on mountaintops and valleys with them together.
How can we ever express our gratitude to you for all you have meant to us? Maybe the following says it best.
When preachers talk, they use the expression of the “honeymoon” period almost every preacher has when he arrives at a new work. About a year or so after his arrival, the relationship changes and the honeymoon is over. It can so easily happen in a marriage. The couple still loves each other, but the care and concern which was part of the courtship moves into the background. Almost every preacher has had this same experience in doing local work.
When we moved to Florida nearly four decades ago, your outpouring of love and concern welcomed us far beyond our expectation. I wish every fellow-preacher could experience this kind of “honeymoon” as he begins a new work. We have now been with this church for thirty-five years and a remarkable thing has happened. The honeymoon is not over! Thank you for giving us something very few preachers have ever experienced. Thank you for making our work together a thirty-five year “honeymoon.”