Perspectives by Rev. Clarence Witten

A Farewell Perspective

We’ll be driving down the Trans-Canada soon on our way to serve a church in B.C. As we go, we’ll be taking tons of great memories with us; actually we’ll be taking lots of South Dundas with us.

From the moment we arrived here late one February evening, we knew we were in a special place. Not only had our good church people cleaned the house we bought from top to bottom, but they’d unpacked the moving van, set up all our furniture, and even made the beds for our family of four!

 Since that day, we have been touched by how friendly and neighbourly the people of this community are. Like the time my neighbour across the street let me run over a hundred feet of my extension chords from his generator to my sump pump in a power outage. Or the time one half of my maple tree split away and came crashing down while we were on vacation, and I came home to only a few small branches. All the rest was cut up and taken care of by another dear neighbour.

Mostly we’ve just appreciated all the good ‘salt of the earth’ type people we’ve rubbed shoulders with here. Like at South Dundas Soccer or at my Tuesday night hockey. Or the many business owners and trades people who we’ve dealt with. Just good people. People who will be hard to replace, like a carpenter who consistently goes the second mile, or a plumber whose service is amazing, or a mechanic who just treats you right.

South Dundas’ greatest asset is its people, but there’s so much more that we’ve enjoyed like its beauty, history, and of course the St. Lawrence. I don’t think we realize how unique it is to have so many beaches, parks, and access points along the river. I have spent countless hours up our road at Duncan Park. It’s a gem.

It will be difficult to say good-bye as we end our ministry here at the end of May. I’ve been blessed to serve a wonderful church. My wife has enjoyed (usually) driving a school bus for most of our time here. Our children attended the first 12 years of their schooling here and have made some super friends.

So hopefully you can see why I say that we’ll be taking much more with us down the highway than just our stuff. We’ll be taking something of this community. And as we move on I hope that we also leave something behind. More than just the stuff we’ve given away. I hope that we’ve had an impact. 

It’s my hope that some of us have come to see their need to know God’s love and the salvation that’s available in Jesus. Nothing would thrill me more than that we’ve left behind people who have come to know Jesus or have grown closer to him. 

Whether it was through the Perspectives articles that I’ve written, the work done with Love South Dundas or my work through Community Christian Reformed Church, when all is said and done, nothing matters more in life and for eternity than that we come to receive Christ as our Saviour and Lord.

Thanks for being a fantastic community to live in these past 14 years. Thanks for being part of our lives and thanks for letting us be part of yours.