One of the retired pastors in our church had a story to tell last night.

Years ago, early on in his ministry, he baptized a fifteen year old girl. She was one of the first people he ever baptized, and he remembered it all very clearly. Last week, after years and years of faithful ministry (and he’s STILL preaching every Sunday at a local church), he had the opportunity to do a revival in that very same church where that baptism took place. And there at that church was that very same fifteen year old girl… who is now a seventy-five year old woman.

“Sixty years,” he said. “It’s been sixty years.”

Sixty years, and she’s still faithfully following Christ, just as he himself has done all these years. After so many years of faithful and sometimes hard ministry, what a gift that he was able to go back and see what fruit had come from even those early years. He said they went up the stairs (“we had to help each other with those stairs!”) and were able to look into that baptistry where decades ago real life-changing ministry happened. And happens even now.

Wes and I have said many, many times that when we’re in our eighties (Lord willing!), we want to be just like this gentleman and his precious wife. Still serving Christ, bearing witness that through God’s grace you can survive even the hardest seasons of ministry, and trusting that His Word changes lives…