7.13-Moving back to Texas after 33 years in Colorado

Moving back to Texas after 33 years in Colorado

7.13-

Today at about 3pm four years ago Sheila and I moved back to Texas after being gone out of the state for a total of 33 years.

Sheila and I have been married for almost 50 years and only 17 of those have been lived in Texas.  There is a special culture in Colorado that is quite different from Texas. We enjoyed the people who adopted us as their family for these years. They treated us as family and we tried to do the same. We moved to Denver in 1977 to work with a congregation of about 500 people who had quite an impact in the eastern suburb of Aurora, Colorado. There were many military people in the congregation as there were three active bases. Lowry Air Force Base, Buckley Army Base and Fitzsimmons Army Hospital were located near the building. Many were from Texas, California, Oklahoma and natives of Colorado.

After our studies for the ministry in Dallas, we worked with the Casa View church in Mesquite, Texas, for almost four great years. We had many great friends at the Casa View church and loved our work there. We had the chance to move to Colorado and we were excited about a new adventure so we decided to move. Our son Jeff was 7 years old at the time.

Dallas and Fort Worth were settled by Bible belt Christians, but Denver was settled by a variety of people from different faiths including the Jewish faith. At that time there were not many large congregations of the churches of Christ in Colorado. We enjoyed much of our work there, but in many ways missed Texas and our families. This had been a period of great spiritual growth for us and Amy came into our family in 1978.

In 1980, we moved back to Abilene Texas for about three years and we worked with the Vine St. church of Christ.  We were blessed with being with a congregation that had a strong leadership and we supported the college ministry and the bus ministry and youth ministry going on at this congregation.

In 1983 we were asked by some brothers and sisters to come back and help with a new congregation in the SE part of Aurora and after some thought and prayer we decided to do this work.  SE church met in an elementary school for seven years and then for 23 years while we were there we had a lovely church building which has gotten great use not only as a teaching facility, but a very impactful food bank in the area.

About the time we reached our typical retirement at, 66, I fell and broke my left knee and was considerably slowed and we decided it was time to change our location and the speed of our work seemed to demand this.  We spend several months packing our accumulated belongings and selling the home God had blessed us with and on 7.13.13 we arrived in North Richland Hills.  We had found a house only 5 minutes from our son, Jeff and his wife, Donna.

Since this time we have spent four years in our new "work".  Getting our bodies stronger through workouts on weight machines and our indoor bike and the weekly walks against the current in the lazy river.  We have enjoyed being a part of a Bible class and small group and I am in several men's Bible study groups to encourage spiritual growth and endurance with our walk with God.  We have learned to pace ourselves according to our age and body situation.  We have enjoyed freedom to go to Atlanta when we wanted to go or when we were needed to help with our grandsons.  We have also made several trips across the state of Texas to visit family and friends.

In the last four years I have continued to work to teach and encourage others through teaching the Bible.  I have done some substitute teaching at church, but mostly through small groups

We have been blessed to be with our family at the Oak Ridge church on several occasions around Thanksgiving, Christmas and Cemetery Renuion times.  This congregation was helpful to start us out on our faith journey and then supported us on several international trips to Russia and Ukraine.  We have been blessed to attend the congregation at The Hills Church of Christ where many of our family members have attended for many years and the four years have blessed us with many new brothers and sisters whom we have come to love.

7.13.13 was a big day when we rolled into town, back in Texas for a new phase of life.  We thank God for our friends in Colorado who helped us so much and now our family and friends back in Texas.

There are reminders given to us that I like to remember to keep mind to keep our attitudes upbeat and filled with hope.

1 Thessalonians 5.
¹² But we request of you, brethren, that you ^[i]appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you ^[j]instruction, ¹³ and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. ¹⁴ We urge you, brethren, admonish the ^[k]unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. ¹⁶ Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit; ²⁰ do not despise prophetic ^[l]utterances. ²¹ But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; ²² abstain from every ^[m]form of evil.
²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
²⁵ Brethren, pray for us^[n].
²⁶ Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren.
²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Larry Wishard
7.13.17