God’s Great Blessings

 

girl-church-pews_8615_990x742
Too often I find myself on the negative side of life.  I’ve spent far too much time “wishing things were different”, instead of enjoying the goodness of God that is all around me in the moment.  And the greatest tragedy of all is to go through life without counting our blessings on a regular basis.

Just like the news media, the negative “stuff” gets all the attention. No one is interested in hearing about the overall Goodness of God in life. God has blessed me in ways that far exceed anything that I had ever hoped or dreamed for.  I have wife, Jan (the love of my life) and the three children that she labored to deliver into our home, and their wonderful Christian spouses that produced 9 beautiful grandchildren for us.  Jan has been my rock over the years, a true gift of God.  Our three children have grown up loving the lord and are now serving Him in their own chosen professions, their callings.  I could share with you about all of them, their unique talents and abilities and how they complement each other so very well.  But today, I want to focus on Sherry.  This is a very special time in her life. Sherry is our first born and we knew early on that she was going to be a blessing in the lives of so many people.  She graduated from Azusa Pacific University sensing God’s call in her life work with young people. Her list of accomplishments is phenomenal.

  •          Published while still in college in the Psychiatric field
  •          A natural born teacher, leader, & administrator, she taught in two private schools in Southern California before founding a preschool here  at Pathway and having the vision and tools to inaugurate a private Christian school right here in Fair Oaks.   She has worked at Pathway  in some capacity or other for 20 years.
  •          She started off as our youth leader,
  •          She was my administrator for a time
  •          She has been working with Pathway children since 2000
  •          She has been a teacher, programmer, counselor, visionary, encourager,  gifted communicator on and off the stage.

Organization is her middle name. Most of all, she has a deep God inspired passion for children. I believe that she was created for this particular ministry. This last weekend she received her Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.  She has spent a year working as an intern for the UCD medical center in one of the most coveted and sought after positions in her field of work.  Graduating at the head of her class, she is now working full time at the Terra Nova Center on Sunrise Blvd. We are going to celebrate her 20 years of service at Pathway this coming Sunday, the 24th of August.  What a blessing it has been for me, to work side by side with my own daughter, Sherry, for ½ of my ministry. She has brought joy and happiness to my life and ministry, but also to so many children, youth, and adults (young and old).  The musicals and plays that she directed were often the highlight of the year.  Her vacation Bible schools and summer/vacation programs were the very best.  Her reputation is tremendous in our community.  Other churches, big churches, tried to hire her out from under us by offering more money, bigger facility etc. What they didn’t know was that for Sherry, it was not about the money. It was all about her kids, the Pathway kids.  They truly were her family her passion her mission.

Thank you Lord for allowing us (the Pathway Family) to have our lives touched and blessed with her smile, her
enthusiasm and her passion for You Lord Jesus.   We do wish her well in her new mission field, but it goes without saying that she will be truly, deeply missed by all of us at Pathway.

 

Soli Deo Gloria!  Pastor Mike (aka, a very proud Dad)
885334_10200488078154853_1554834214_o

2,261 Responses to “God’s Great Blessings”

  1. Shirley Cross says:

    We have been truly blessed!! Thank you, Sherry.

Leave a Reply