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Text Box: From the Editor Don’t Cry Because It’s Over (Smile Because It Happened) Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, “Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundations of the house of the Lord of Hosts was laid, that the temple of the Lord might be built” (Zechariah 8:9). “Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened” was a marquis on a neighboring church’s sign not long ago. Seeing that sign brought to my mind what’s happening here at Crossroads with Pastor Simmons and Mrs. Alfreda changing their ministry venue. The Lord has released them from the ministry here at CWOC, and is opening up other doors of ministry for them, and we are tempted to be sad. Pastor Simmons has told us before that we better not even cry at his funeral, or he’s coming back to haunt us; so I know he wouldn’t want us crying now, either, because he and Mrs. Alfreda are leaving Crossroads. In connection with this, I was reminded of a time in the Apostle Paul’s ministry when people were sad because the will of God was for him to leave where he was to continue somewhere else. They even begged Paul not to go. This story is found in Acts 21. In verses 13 and 14 it says, Then Paul answered, “What mean ye to weep and to break my heart?”...And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” There is so much to smile about because Pastor Simmons has been with us for eight years. He and his family members and those who have labored with him, along with the other pastors and their families and congregations over the past 65 years since the beginning of CWOC, have laid a great foundation for this church on which future generations can continue to build a wonderful temple of the Lord. Nancy Kyzer

Nancy Kyzer

Pastor Simmons and Mrs. Alfreda,
We Love You !