This morning’s funeral service for John Sergey lasted an hour-and-a-half, longer than usual, but that was to be expected for a man who lived so long (91 years) and accomplished so much. But in listening to family and friends, one fact stood out above everything else. John Sergey was a man of prayer. I think Sergei Nikolaev, pastor of the Temp…
Message given by Ray Pritchard at the funeral service for John Sergey, January 5, 2009, Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, IL.
After a quick weekend in Dallas, we are back in Chicago very briefly. Last Monday night John Sergey passed away at the age of 91. During our years in Oak Park he became more than a friend. He was a mentor, a fellow elder, and he was a personal hero to me. Twice we traveled to Russia together–once on a 17-day trip that took us from Leningrad (…
I wasn’t planning on blogging about this until I read Joe McKeever’s fine article called When to Retire and What to Do Then in which he quotes George MacDonald who said, “The first thing in all progress is to leave something behind."And all God’s people said, “Hmmmmm." What are you going leave behind in o…
Since this is January and the time for new beginnings is upon us, many people have resolved to read through the Bible in 2009. Some of you made the same resolution last year and ended up capsized somewhere in Leviticus. Others made it to First Chronicles, some made it all the way to Daniel, others to Acts, and a few made it all the way from Genesis…
It happens that I am writing this note from Dallas, TX where we are spending the weekend with Josh and Leah and Mark and Vanessa. On my morning walk I started thinking about how we should live in 2009. And I started thinking about adverbs.Adverbs. Haven’t intentionally thought about adverbs since I took English from Mrs. Graves in the ni…
The first day of a new year is a good time to stop, reflect, refocus and consider where we are going. The question for today is not, “Where are you going?” but rather, “Where will you be when you get there?” This morning all of us are taking the first steps on a 365-day journey. Where will you be when you arrive at December …