Saturday, December 02, 2006

In memory of John Fischer

This week a friend of mine named John Fischer died. John and I served together on the Ministers Council Senate of the American Baptist Churches a few years ago. We got to be friends and roomed together a number of times during our meetings.
John was a man of integrity, compassion, humor, and strength.

John did one of the most creative sabbaticals of any pastor I know. He decided that since many of his parishioners were blue collar workers, he needed to understand their lives. He spent much of his sabbatical doing day labor and experienced a side of life that he had not known before. Church politics then went there way and John ended up leaving the pastorate but he was always a minister of the gospel.

One thing that always struck me was the way that he spoke about his wife Terry Sue. He delighted in her and I can't imagine that after years of marriage he was any less excited about seeing her each evening and holding her in his arms than he was the day they married.

God blessed me through my friend John. I trust that right now and forever, God is cradling him in arms of love. He will be deeply missed. Blessings my friend.

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