From Darrell's Desk
By Rev.&nbps;Darrell Maguire
What to say? It's a dilemma considering this will be my last contribution to the First Baptist newsletter as I will be retiring at the end of this month. A lot of things have occurred in the eight and a half years we have lived in Simcoe. A town we have grown to love and a town where we will remain among our family and friends. There have been challenges, and there have been wonderful encounters with God's blessing and grace. So, what do I write about?
Some may suggest a few highlights be shared but I am limited in the allotted column size. Another may suggest that I reflect on the biggest lessons I have learned over my time at First Baptist, but I think I will leave that subject for my last Sunday in the pulpit. Maybe I could talk about endings but in many ways, this doesn't feel like an ending. It seems to me better described as a transition, a lane change on the highway of life. Maybe that is the subject: transitions.
Have you ever noticed how our lives are structured around transitions. There are so many transitions we can encounter in our pilgrimage of life. There are transitions that come with reaching a certain age, like going to school, getting a driver's licence, being able to vote, and now at my stage of life pensions like CPP come into focus. There are transitions that come from health challenges that push us in certain directions.
Then there are transitions that are not directly related to our age, like getting married, having children, beginning our employment, or moving from one home to another. That last one was surely significant for myself and my family as we moved from Ontario to Quebec, then to Selkirk Ontario, then to Toronto, and now finally to Simcoe. Each location led us to new friends and new adventures. One of the best things about these transitions is that lessons learned in one church community often translated to benefits in future locations. For example, the program we have called “Talk Back” (a Bible study program based on the previous Sunday's sermon) has made an appearance in every church I have pastored with positive results in all of them.
Transitions brought to me and by extension family and church new ideas, and new opportunities. If we were open to the new ideas and opportunities, some amazing things began to happen. Sometimes a simple idea like “Coffee & Conversation” at the Donway Baptist church where I served, grew and developed into an amazing ministry to new Canadians wanting to learn English and how to navigate Canadian customs and institutions. Here in Simcoe, a caring congregation and large facility allowed caring ministries to flourish and grow. Hence, “First Serving” and “Home for the Night”.
I wrote that I could write about some of the biggest lessons I learned, and I deferred on that until my last Sunday but one lesson as it relates to transition does stand out. For all these amazing ministries the churches undertook while I was present, I freely admit that the initial ideas did not come from me. I saw my role in this visioning as encouraging those who cast the ideas and then lending whatever support or participation I could to see them move ahead. Sometimes with transitions you must be willing to just go along with the ride and see where God is taking you.
I think God loves to surprise us and transitions are the times when God surprises us the most. We expect one thing and something else, and often better, comes along. Like many of you, transitions do make me anxious but only until I remember one critical thing. That though my life's path may change, God is always sovereign in my life. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and he has a plan for what comes next, for me and for First Baptist.
