In this Christmas season, I’ve been reflecting on family and all our past Christmas notes. Here’s one of the first ones we sent. Enjoy,
Ryan, a servant of the Lord and of Pastor Rench, called to be an associate and youth pastor, separated unto Calvary Baptist Church, from which I have grown and learned: To the 12 families of Jamie scattered abroad Indiana; and to friends and family in other like places, of like mind, scattered throughout the Midwest Americas of Oklahoma and beyond, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth; greeting.
I thank my God to know each of you. First, for your familial ties and then for the blessings you have bestowed on us since this time last year. We long to see you, that we may receive of you the $1M gifts you desire to share with us, but we are let hitherto and must wait until we meet again.
Now I would not have you to be ignorant, my brethren and friends, concerning 2010; for from the beginning God has chosen us to bestow his bountiful blessings upon. Now, no training for the time is joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peacable fruit of experience and growth unto those which are exercised thereby. Let us therefore endure Graduate School, and stay strong in the work as you close up your 2 year internship in Stillwater. I have fought a few fights, I have finished my thesis, I have kept the diploma. Henceforth there is laid up for me a lifetime of church work and lessons that we never learned in the classroom.
But of the work and toil, ye have no need that I write unto you. For that light affliction yielded a glorious move to California, a scenic trip through Colorado, and a new job as parents of 40 new children, the teens of Calvary Baptist Church at Temecula, CA. Ye in Oklahoma have bestowed multiple gifts through the iPad I received of you, and our work here has been strenuous as we labor through the sunshine and perfect breeze.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by our new location, that ye visit us in due time.
Greet one another with a firm handshake. And the grace of God be with you all, and to all a good night. Amen.
Comments
