Column of faith: “Love your neighbor”

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In 1985 I came to the Country of Peace to start a new season in my life. The season in the Land of Peace was going to be a ‘5-10 year plan’, but God had other plans and now we are here for 36 years!

I had just graduated and certified as a public health inspector, and Grande Prairie would become my only place where I would practice my public health profession. Little did I know that God’s plans would include me settling in the Land of Peace, raising my children, and seeing my grandchildren born here as well. I also did not realize that it would enter my 2 North Dakota profession of pastor in the Country of Peace.

In the early 1980s, I made a commitment to Christ to follow him with “all my heart, soul, and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself” (Matthew 22: 34-40). This commitment to follow the greatest commandments of Jesus would lead me into a new life and path that would challenge me in places I never imagined. One of those roads was in the field of public health inspection, and ended in the Country of Peace. This was not where I thought followers of Jesus would naturally go if they wanted to practice their beliefs or faith. However, I really discovered that God was directing my life towards this profession to be a testimony of how to ‘love my neighbor’ and ‘love God with all my heart’. In my time as a public health inspector and government official, I met several people who were devoted followers of Jesus Christ. They have heard the ‘call’ to enter their respected health professions to fulfill the Great Commandments of Jesus. When I retired from my career as a public health inspector in late 2014, after 29 years of public service, I felt that I had done my part to protect my neighbors from disease and adverse health conditions.

In early 2015, actually, a week after my retirement, I entered the other end of the healthcare system as a patient. My severe heart attack in January 2015 almost left my wife a widow. However, I am so grateful for the medical professionals who saved my life, the Emergency Department, and the medical teams at the Cardiac ICU in Grande Prairie and Edmonton who kept me alive so that I could see my grandchildren and family again. You have given me the opportunity to write you this article as well.

So why am I sharing my life story with you? As a pastor and Christian leader in Peace Country, I believe that I am uniquely positioned to have lived in a variety of roles in our community. I have had to balance my responses and opinions during this Covid pandemic ‘season’ and have not done a good job at times. It has not been easy for any of us during these 20 months of unprecedented restrictions and limits in our lives. Both sides of opinions and views on this entire pandemic have left our Christian community and our families bitter and divided in many ways. However, the words and commandments of Jesus echo in my heart and mind, “Love your neighbor.”

Obviously, I am going to talk about my past training and understanding of the days we live in today regarding this pandemic. It may offend you and you want to defend or argue against my views. You have that freedom in our wonderful country of Canada, where we have rights and freedoms, like nowhere else in the world. My words come from my reality, so I am grateful to have this opportunity to express my views to you, my fellow citizens of Peace Country, whom I love as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. We live in challenging days that can be divisive. Continue to follow your convictions and the words of Jesus, “Love your neighbor” . I believe with full conviction that we are called as followers of Jesus to do our part to put into practice the public health measures that are asked of us, especially in this 4 th wave of the pandemic. This is not to embarrass or condemn you to follow what our government and healthcare professionals have asked you to do. My call to you is, will you, “love your neighbor”? In my humble opinion, the Country of Peace needs to live up to its name. A region, with dedicated and loving people who settled in this area of ​​the country, to live life in peace and love. Will you act today and express those attributes and ‘love your neighbor’?

God bless you

Elmer Spilchen, Life Care Pastor, Iglesia Grande Prairie Alliance

Reference-www.dailyheraldtribune.com

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