Serving or Being Served?

This is the last of a 12-part series celebrating 45 years.

Charles Good, resident and original Landis Homes board member

December 1, 2009

Giving and receiving, serving and being served were an integral part of my growing up in the "roaring twenties" near Bowmansville, Pennsylvania. My parents instilled in me, more by deed than by word, that serving others in the community and church were central Kingdom values.

Susie and I raised our own family on a farm near Strasburg, Pennsylvania where we attempted to pass along those values of service to our children. At Strasburg Mennonite Church and in the surrounding community, service became our life's goal.

Unexpectedly, I was invited to join a team of local leaders in 1961 to envision a retirement community in Lancaster County. This team visited Greencroft Retirement Communities in Goshen, Indiana and also had the opportunity to see a drama at Goshen College about the young becoming old. We all had a good laugh from the play but we had no idea what the future might hold for retirees in Pennsylvania.

We came back energized to develop a plan for a local retirement community that was later named "Landis Homes". I served on the Landis Homes board for 18 years and had the privilege to present the sermon at the installation of President Ed Longenecker.

In 1998 my wife Susie and I moved to Landis Homes from our Strasburg farm and lived in a Kirkview apartment where we felt welcomed and loved by our neighbors, family, and friends. The maintenance staff members were especially hospitable as we made our transition from our life-long community in Strasburg, to our new community here at Landis Homes.

In 2008, we needed to make another transition to the personal care community in Cedar. Again, we felt loved and supported by many dear friends like Dr. Lester and Lois Eshleman, in addition to the competent Landis Homes staff.

Growing up next to the Muddy Creek and spending most of my adult life near the Pequea Creek, I am now blessed with so much love and support in this beautiful Landis Valley. What my parents demonstrated in my childhood about Jesus' call to serve others has guided my life. May God's grace abound in our community as we give and receive, serve and are served by others.

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