My Pastor

My Pastor, Jack Riffe needs your prayers right now. He had some chest pains yesterday and is at TGH right now possibly awaiting surgery.

Let me tell you what little bit I know about my pastor. He is a meek and quiet man. I know that he isn't Jesus, but I think Pastor walks and talks like Jesus did. He isn't loud, doesn't scream and he can talk to you in a way that is loving and kind and nothing more. When he preaches, he only preaches what God has told him to say. Many times he has just folded his sermon in his Bible and said I was going to preach on this but God said no, that and he would follow what God has said.
Right now, I am teaching both Sunday School and Junior church. Sometimes, we have 9 children, sometimes we have 0 children. But through his example, he has taught me to keep on, keeping on.

One of the best days of my life was when I went to church on March 8, 2006 and he told me that he visited my sick Daddy that day and it was hard for Pastor to contain himself to try to tell me about his visit with my Daddy. I even saw a tear in his eye when he told me.
See, he led my Daddy to the Lord. Pastor had been trying for about 7 years to do this. He never pushed my Daddy into making any decisions and some days when he talked to my Daddy he just talked to my Daddy - nothing more then how's the fish biting or how's work going. But my Daddy knew what kind of man my Pastor IS.

When I asked my Daddy the day he got saved if he had any visitors that day (I knew Pastor was coming to visit.) He said your Preacher, my friend. Daddy didn't tell me about his salvation but now that I look back, I could tell it in his eyes. When I got home from church that night, he asked how his Brother Jack was doing and he smiled. What a sweet memory of my Daddy.

My daddy went home to be with the Lord on May 13, 2006. He didn't get a chance to follow in believer's baptism. He did get to go to church on Easter Sunday that year. That was the first time he ever got to hear my Pastor preach. He got to hear Pastor Turner a few time before (during school programs and graduation at West Gate) and Clarence Sexton when we took Grace to school or picked her up her freshman year.

My Pastor held his hand as I told my Daddy I would see him in heaven. My Pastor watched as my Daddy smiled at me, nodded his head like he was saying yes and took his last breath. My Pastor, I think was a little shocked when I said that church was the next day and I had to get ready for Sunday School class. It was business as usual, I think I said. My Pastor preached my Daddy's memorial service, which was hard enough for a Pastor to do but when you are friends, it is even harder.

Every since that day, my Pastor is like a father figure to me. I know I am part of the family of God but he and his family have made Grace and I feel like part of their family everytime I am around them. Grace calls the Pastor and Mrs. Riffe grandma and grandpa.

Everyone that knows me can probably see that I am having trouble typing this for the tears. My Daddy said I was always too "tenderhearted". I need to go so I can get some more tissues. Yes, I ran out again.


My favorite Bible verse:
"Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shalll give thee the desires of thine heart".
Psalm 37:4 KJV