Joe and Diane have three daughters, When they came to be part of the church I served from 1995 to 2002 her parents drove out from Sun Lakes where I now live, to worship with us. They had a beautiful new home, horses, and three active adolescents. Suddenly and without warning Joe's employer broke the contract and left them high and dry.
About the same time my own leadership became tenous for all the usual reasons, people upset that I did not perform as they thought I should, people becoming charismatic and wanting the church to move in that direction, the tensions of making major decisions in a building program, plus some Eschatological panic before 2000 Y2K????
I prayed and hoped as this family attempted to find new ways to provide for the family since they loved the community. I allowed the long hours of meetings and some relationships gone sour to affect my sleep, and while Diane was working as our part time secretary I had a heart attack. While I recovered she maintained communications with people who wanted to know how I was, and also kept a stream of people from stopping by as well wishers. I did not need that at the time.
Long story short, they went into debt, had to move. I survived a needless and rediculous church split but we lost so many families that my spiritual heart was not up for rebuilding our core group. I also discovered in a fast growing community with all kinds of church plants going on that the phrase, "If you build it, they willl come" does not always work. We in fact had a program badly damaged by loss of families and leadership.
So, here we are, surviving and thriving seven years plus later, celebrating a wedding. Life goes on, we learn, we recover, we live. Danielle and Jeremiah will make thier own story, and may God bless them.
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