Faithful for a Lifetime

Evelyn and I drove to E91 Church in Indy today to attend the celebration for John and Joyce Samples, honoring John's 50 years in ministry and retirement (just a few days short of his 80th birthday). It was a wonderful time, full of funny stories and touching tributes—laughter and tears.
Rick Grover, minister, said he had lunch with John earlier this week, and John said, "It's hard to be given so much attention for doing something you love."
Early in his ministry as senior pastor at E91, Dave Faust called John to serve there as seniors minister after John retired from his role as director of Christian ministry at Standard Publishing. Dave said someone told him, "If you didn't do anything else right in your ministry here, you did a good thing when you brought John to E91."

The 75-minute program included moving testimonies from John's family--son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. It was a challenge to all of us to remain faithful for a lifetime.
Evelyn and I had a great time at the packed reception. We got to visit with Roy and Joy Lawson, Mike and Linda Sweeney, Betty Aldridge, Mike Berry, Dave Smith, and others.

We were home by 7:15, and I watered plants while Evelyn collected the mail from the neighbor and began getting the house back to normal after our week of vacation in Montana. 

We ate popcorn for supper and found the season premier of "Duck Dynasty" to watch while we munched before calling it a day.