How often the apostle Paul said those words in letters to churches where he had served the Lord.   I can think of no other more appropriate words to begin my last article as a "full-time minister" for this church.   And, I put those words in quotation marks, because we certainly do not intend to be anything else but full-time servants of the Lord, just as God expects of each one of us.   Mary and I will just be serving in other ways than we have been for the last twenty-three years.

          We do thank God for all of you, our church family for tweny-eight years.   We thank you for allowing us to serve in many capacities over this period of time.

          Our first Sunday at Netherwood was on the occasion of the 25^th Anniversary of our congregation. In two years, if the Lord wills, we will all be celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of Netherwood Park church of Christ.

          These years are full of memories, the vast majority of which are good memories.   Mary and I both remember teaching children's classes in which some of you who are parents now were just children.   We remember the wonderful way in which you supported us as we left Albuquerque to go through the Bear Valley School of Preaching in Denver and the way we were welcomed back home and into the work here.   We remember going door-knocking with many of you to spread the good news of Christ.   We remember with sadness the many who have preceded all of us in death, yet with gladness for those who are now with the Lord.

          I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated all of the elders I have had the privilege to work with over the years.   This congregtation has been blessed with men who love the Lord and love this church.

          When you get into the business of mentioning names in such a thank-you note as this, you can get in trouble for leaving out names, but at the risk of this, I must thank my co-worker for the entire twenty-three years, Betty Roberts, absolutely the best church secretary any congregation could have.   Thank you Betty for keeping me straight and serving this church so well!   It has been a pleasure to work with George Carman for the last 17 months and I know he will continue to work hard preaching, teaching and all the other ways a preacher serves a congregation.

          Mary and I will take a few months to enjoy retirement, first visiting my Dad in Mississippi for a few weeks, then visiting all the congregations in the area, worshipping with people we have known for many years (something very hard to do as a preacher), then in the fall, returning to Netherwood to serve in new ways.   Those are our plans, but, as with all of our plans, we must say, if it is the Lord's will that is what we will do.

          None of us knows what the Lord has in store for the Netherwood Park church of Christ, but we know what He wants from each one of us – to be faithful in all things, to walk in the light as He is in the light, to be ready to share with others the reason for our hope in Christ, to serve, to let our light shine so that others will give glory to God, to be faithful even unto death.