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In August 2007, the elders honored Ed and Ozela Cox as FXCC's honored servants for August. Ed and Ozela have been tireless workers at FXCC for over 30 years. Ozela has been there time and again for sick members of our congregation, and has co-ordinated all of the wedding and baby shower ministry at FXCC. Ed has cooked many a meal at FXCC retreats and fellowships, but these are small potatoes compared with his time as a United States Marine when he fed over 44,000! He also never met a tree he couldn't fell and never shied away from the dirty, out-of-the-spotlight jobs.
First, I recall a time when Ed was committed to thinning out some of the trees on the church property along Rugby Road. I and a few others, agreed to help Ed with the effort to remove those trees. The work progressed fairly well until we encountered a very tall tree. Most of the participants considered the removal of this particular tree to be very “risky”, but Ed insisted that it needed to be taken down. Ed climbed some distance up the tree and tied a rope around the trunk. When he came down, he proceeded to cut a wedge in the trunk. Finally, he turned and instructed those of us standing and observing his work to take the rope and pull it safely pull the tree away from the road as Ed continued his cutting. Despite three grown men at the end of the rope, the tree fell across Rugby Road leaving debris all along the street and impacting traffic for over an hour. I recall Ed saying to those of us with “rope burns” on our hands, “I asked for Men, and they sent me Boys!”
Ozela taught me how to fold cloth diapers for little boys, how to crochet and how to make heart healthy chili. She watched our son when I was sick and helped us get members of our family to the doctor when we couldn’t do it. She can patch a pair of blue jeans and sew a zipper faster than any one I know and can crochet a blanket large or small with colors of your choice. We spent many an afternoon together while our boys were growing up. These are only some of the things that she has done for our family, but the greatest job she does now for our church family is organize, collect money and purchase gifts (Ed helps here too) for our members who have babies or who are getting married. Our church is blessed many times over because of this hard-working, loving and sacrificing family.
Ed and Ozela are living examples of James 2:18: “Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do.”
We met the Cox family the first day they came to services at Fairfax. They immediately introduced themselves to everyone and let it be known that they were willing to work. Over the years we have never known a Christian family who has done so much to help other people; both in the church and in the community. They never turn down a task in the church they are asked to do in promoting the Lord’s work. They have been a great blessing to us over all the years we have known them.
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