—Jeremy Fine, in the Christmas 2013 edition of The Fine Times
Every year Eddie and Billye Joyce Fine put out a two-sided, two page Christmas letter, The Fine Times, with contributions from Eddie, Billye Joyce, and their son, Jeremy. It was one of several I read today, with time after the Christmas rush to savor this season's Christmas letters.
I always have been the nostalgic type, a tendency that's only increasing as I get older. And I took a turn in that direction as I thought about the long-time friendships with wonderful people who sent us letters this year.
I became friends with Eddie and Billye Joyce many years ago when they were leading Teacher Leader Conferences for Standard Publishing and I had the privilege to travel with them for the seminars. Their commitment and hard work were an inspiration to me, and I reflected on their lifetime of service as I read the news about their 50th wedding anniversary celebration this year.
Glenn and Carolyn Kirby always send us a newsy letter; this year's included the fact that Glenn turned 65 this year. How is that possible? It seems like just a few years ago that he was youth minister at First Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, while I served there as education minister. (Actually that was 1974-76, coming up on 40 years ago!)
Bob and Sue Willson and their kids were among our pals when we came to Mason Church of Christ and I served there for more than four years as part-time education minister. We joined the church the year Jennifer was in in first grade, 1983 if I'm counting right--30 years ago! Of course, we've been at the church ever since then, and the Willsons have been our friends, even after they moved to North Carolina several years ago. Their Christmas letter reported that they've moved into a continuing care retirement community. "Our goal was to prevent our children from a similar experience with us in the future," they wrote, alluding to the difficult transitions they had experienced with both of their mothers a few years ago. Not long after their move, Sue had a stroke, from which she's recovering nicely. How is it that our peers, just a few years older than us, are experiencing such things?
Other letters reported births (our daughter-in-law's sister, Shannon, and her husband have a beautiful new baby boy this year) and illnesses (a friend and mentor, Eleanor Daniel, has suffered major illnesses, including a series of problems that almost killed her while she was serving in India earlier this year) and weddings and accomplishments in building the church and serving the Lord.
The letters are an encouragement to me to keep on keeping on. There's great value in perseverance; some things don't change—the Lord's grace, the world's need, the pleasures and challenges of serving—even though our bodies and our health and our circumstances inevitably will. Yep, Jeremy, "we must make the most of every day."
Pictures of the Day: These pictures weren't taken by me, but by a new friend, John Cornett, who accompanied us with his wife on our "Paul's Fourth Missionary Journey" cruise this summer with Marshall and Judy Hayden. His Christmas card included a CD chock full of the masterful photographs he took on the trip, and I didn't take time to look at them till this afternoon. What a treasure! What a gift! I've been intending to make a Shutterfly book with pictures of our experience. I'm so glad I've put it off, because very few of my pictures are as beautiful and crisp as his. It's going to be a much more impressive keepsake because of his generosity.
This is Wendy Wagoner and Roy Lawson atop Mars Hill in Athens
John caught Evelyn and Wendy and me in a pose in Malta.
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