Special Speaker

Yesterday at church, we had the great pleasure of having an old friend as guest speaker. Well, she isn't old, but our relationship is. Eleanor Filyer grew up in Renfrew; she came with her parent when her Dad, Steve Filyer, became our minister back in the 1980's. They left to go and serve at Bothwell/Clachan in the late 90's. Seeing Eleanor today was wonderful in a lot of ways. First of all, she's grown into the lovely, well-mannered and intelligent woman we all figured she would become, and we take a little bit of pride in that, because she started out in our church - though it's her parents who actually deserve the credit. What really got me, though, is how she has inherited her father's ability to paint a picture and then insert you into it, so you get the point of the message. Add to that her mom's sense of humour - Eleanor knows how to laugh at herself - and you have someone who is going to be a good pastor.

Her message was a good one for me to hear right now. I've been discouraged at church, because we can't ever seem to gain ground or momentum. Her advice was to keep looking forward, to continue to run the race - advice I've heard before, but needed to hear again.