Today I present a ‘Special Edition’ article in honour and appreciation of Pastor Bill Joukhadar who has decided to pass on the baton after 4 years of faithful devotional writing…Ed.

How does one define a person who is a mentor, friend, speaker of the truth in love, honest, sincere, gifted writer, lover of Jesus, exhorter extraordinaire, committed, dedicated to the Word of God, lives wholeheartedly for Jesus, sees the best in people and helps to action those attributes, an all-round father in the faith .. and the list could go on?

Sounds almost impossible … however, I have found that such a person exists.

Well, that is how I define Pastor Bill Joukhadar, who with the help of his daughter-in-law, Grace Joukhadar, birthed www.dancing-on-water.com in 2020. Without skipping an episode, Bill faithfully wrote over 200 weekly devotionals that have circulated globally and encouraged (and I might add … challenged at times) Christians to deepen their faith and strengthen their walk with God. 

So today, with mixed emotions, I need to advise you that tomorrow’s Episode 212 will be Bill’s last weekly contribution to DOW. We will however occasionally post some of his previous articles to remind us of his wisdom and huge contribution over the years.

Bill has set a very high standard for all our authors, but isn’t that what we are called to do? … our absolute excellence for the King of Kings.

And so it is with deep gratitude that I write this farewell to Bill. He has left us with big shoes to fill but with God’s help, we will move forward continuing to post articles that inspire, uplift and encourage us to be the best reflection of Jesus that is humanly possible.

Bill, we honour you, we thank you, we applaud you and we pray God’s richest blessings to you and Beryl as you enjoy your justifiable and well-deserved rest. You set yourself a huge task back in 2020 but you have remained so incredibly faithful to that task.

It would be remiss of me not to include Grace, because as she has been to Bill, she will continue to be my right-hand website advisor as together, we will present the very best that our authors can provide.

A huge thank you, Grace, for your untiring efforts to ensure that DOW’s articles were posted every week and without fail you have ensured this has been carried out despite a very busy home and work life. I am indebted to you.

As we come to the end of another big year that seems to have zipped by, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a beautiful and blessed celebration of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ without whom all the above could not happen.

With deepest gratitude and respect,

Lesley Mathews, Editor
December 3, 2024