Moment
of Reflection
Carl
Laverrenz
I’ve been asked to take moment of reflection
and talk about my experiences with this church and why
I love it. And I truly do love this church.
I go back to the early nineties when my wife,
Kay, and I were looking for a church home. After visiting
several churches in the area, we finally visited this
one. We immediately felt a warmth.
Part of this may have been the physical surroundings,
since this is a very beautiful, warm church. At that
time, didn’t know a soul here, but after the second
time attending here, the minister called and asked if
he could visit us. He came to the house, stayed over
an hour, and our chemistry immediately clicked. He liked
our dog, Max, which particularly ingratiated him to
my wife!
Over time, we got know some people at the church.
Walter Ginter had heard that
I sang at one time with the Tyler Blue Notes and could
carry a tune. He invited me to join the choir, and I’ve
been with the choir ever since. Pretty soon, he also
invited me to join the bell choir. Now this was a different
story! There is a poster in the choir room of a fellow
with his hair sticking out, bells all over, saying,
“And you want me to do WHAT with these?!”
That’s just the way I felt about bells. But
eventually I came to be more comfortable with it. It’s
still a challenging experience, but I love it. I think
the bell choir is one of the activities I enjoy most
about this church.
Six of us joined the church at the same time,
and became very close friends over the years.
Within a year, I was asked to become an Elder.
I didn’t know much about the Presbyterian Church,
let alone about the duties of an Elder. However, since
then I’ve served three terms as an Elder. I’ve
been on a lot of committees. The fellowship and camaraderie
that comes from committee work is something that you
take with you. You never forget it. I particularly enjoy
the work on the Building and Grounds Committee. I like
to work with my hands, and that’s probably why
I like working with this committee so much. I got to
the point where I came down here nearly every day to
check on things and see what needs to be done. And there’s
always something that needs to be done.
Doing so, I got to work with the staff, and I very much
enjoy their fellowship and camaraderie.
The church has helped me through a couple of
times of strife. One of those times was when I lost
my wife. I can’t tell you how important the support
from the church family was during that time. Now I have
health problems and people call me, greet me in church,
come out to the house and just see how I’m doing
and ask if there’s anything they can do.
There are all sorts of support groups; cancer
support groups, Alzheimer’s support groups, etc.,
and they’re important and needed. But I think
we tend to overlook that one of the most important support
groups is the church family. If you get involved, show
that you care, and that you want to be a part of the
activity of the church, it is returned to you in the
form of support. All kinds of support.
There is a stewardship message that I would like
to leave you with. This is a part of giving of your
time. The more you give, the more you get back.
I’ll end with a verse from Luke 6; 38:
“The measure you give is the measure you give
back.” Believe me, it’s true.
