Mat contributed significantly to that positive impression. The congregation cannot possibly grasp its debt to Mat and Jo. Fifteen years is not a long time, unless you serve unselfishly, lovingly as a shepherd. Then, fifteen years is an incredibly long time. To serve as an elder with a heart filled with love is a difficult challenge.
Elders deal with so many needs, problems, crises, and hard decisions that are unknown to most.
It is hard to care, be compassionate, feel concern for people, as need after need, problem after problem, crisis after crisis, challenge after challenge arises. In the four years I have known and worked with Mat, I watched his love and his sense of caring grow. I watched him learn from the past so that he could be a greater blessing to the present. I often wondered how a man could care so much. Great caring can easily become passion.