A Firm Foundation

When Stan and I got married, one of our first priorities was to find a church home. We were in a new place where we knew no one, so we just started visiting churches and seeing what they had to offer. August of 1982 found us sitting in a small church building on Westwood Blvd. As I sat there listening to the preacher speak, I was indignant that he would be so arrogant. He spoke as if there could be no argument about the truth of what he was saying. Our exit at the end of the service found me mentally checking yet another church off the list of possibilities for us when I heard my dear husband say, " At last, we found our new church." I couldn't believe my ears, but grudgingly went along with him each Sunday.

Gradually, I realized that the preacher was not giving his opinion each week, instead, he was preaching what the Bible teaches. This man backed up everything with scripture. I was challenged to check the Scriptures to see if the things being taught on Sunday morning were the same things that God had been teaching His people for thousands of years. It was, and I was hooked. I am so blessed and so thankful to Dan Hendley for teaching me that my foundation should be the Word of God. Through him I learned that it is my responsibility to make sure that I am sitting under a teacher who seeks God's direction in his life and in what he teaches. I am thankful that the Lord has raised up men like this to lead His church at this time.

Such a foundation enables us to withstand the storms and trials that come our way. Standing on the solid rock even allows us to grow in these situations. When Dan resigned from our church a few years ago, it was heartbreaking, but a great growth experience. I realized how much I had come to trust the man behind the pulpit to speak the truth, and I had stopped checking up on him. Once again, I was reminded of my duty to check what I heard against the infallible Word. Once again, I have the opportunity to sit under the teaching of a man who seeks to speak God's Word into our lives. Thank you, Dan, for pointing me to the firm foundation of the Truth, and thank you, Mike, for continuing to turn my focus back to that same Truth.