Often we find it difficult to stay out of the limelight, writes Ira Philip.

But it was absolutely impossible when the pastor, officers and members of the Somerset Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Beacon Hill, Somerset invited me to be their honorary guest at the church's Community Guest Day service.

It was overwhelming listening to the Sabbath School Superintendent Prescot Wilson, a Bermuda College lecturer, introducing me to the packed congregation; and more so when Pastor Dejaun Tull presented me with a beautifully inscribed plaque.

It stated: "This Community Award is presented to Ira Philip for his contribution to Journalism and Community Awareness in the Parish of Sandys and the larger Community of Bermuda this 17th day of April, 2010."

An appended footnote credited to Mark Twain states: "In the real world, nothing happens at the right place and right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct this."

After endeavouring to make a suitable acceptance speech that seemed to have gone over all right, my accompanying friends and family were invited to a sumptuous lunch in the church hall, and to pose for a formal photograph (above) with Pastor Tull, other church officers, and MP Dennis Lister and Cabinet Minister Michael Scott.