The year is 1969 in Belton, Missouri. I was in the Air Force stationed at Richards-Gebaur Air Base, just outside Kansas City. Peggy and I lived in a small trailer in a cozy trailer park about a mile from the base.
There was a little old man who lived across the street from us named Mr. Katz. He was a friendly guy who always greeted us with a wave and a smile. One afternoon as he was doing gardening in his little patch of beautiful flowers, he put down his spade and came over to talk. Among the small trailer-talk, he said something to us that we’ve remembered and thought about over the last 52 years. I can still remember the look in his eyes as he spoke, it was a look of “knowing,” a look of aged wisdom with an almost-hidden smile.
He said, “It’s going to go by really fast. I remember when we were about your age, and it’s gone by really fast.”
Peggy and I looked at each other, 18 and 19 years old, and smiled. We had our whole lives ahead of us, and life seemed to be moving pretty slow. It seemed like forever until I would get out of the Air Force, it seemed like forever until I would graduate from college, it seemed like forever until we could move to Carson City and plant a church. Again, 1969.
Fast-forward. We retired in December 2017 after serving as the senior pastors of the Carson City Foursquare Church for 30-plus years. Our family has grown over the years from the two of us to four sons and their families which include nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
I can’t tell you the thankfulness to God that overflows our hearts. Great is God’s faithfulness!
Over the years since that afternoon in the trailer park, Peggy and I have said to one another numerous times, “Mr. Katz was right,” and we smile.
“The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness,” Lamentations 3:22-23.
Walk closely with Jesus. Live each day well.
Pastor Louis J. Locke is the founding pastor Carson City Foursquare Church.
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