I’ve been the pastor of FCC for some 25 years, and I now understand what one of my mentors said to me many years ago:  “Stan, one of these days you will have a long pastorate, and you will find that funerals get harder to do.”

At the time that statement was made, I just brushed it off as the words  of a sentimental old man.  The longer I pastor FCC, the more I understand those words.  I guess I have become like that sentimental old man.

Over the last couple of years, I have  bid farewell to many very good men.  These are men who have served by my side as the elders and deacons of the church.  Over the last couple of years, the corners of my eyes have glistened with the tears of grief and gratitude as I have paid tribute to men like Dale, Ernie, Wilford, and just this week Gayle.

In Proverbs 25:1, Solomon wrote:  A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.  I’ll put a little spin on those words to say that these men fitly lived there lives in such a way that they were the apples of gold in the pictures of silver.

All this reminiscence has left me with that glistening moisture in the corner of my eyes, so this sentimental old man will end with plenty to keep me thinking.