From the Pastor

One day in the courtyards of your Temple is better than a thousand days anywhere else.

                                                                                                                             - Psalm 84:10 (Read Psalm 84)

 

Greetings, Sebastian Church Friends and Family,

 

What a journey this nine-week renewal leave has been thus far. I started my 5th week the first Sunday in August. I have experienced and seen God at work using disciples and strangers alike to do good and powerful work! It took talking to a deaf pastor who came for a week to the Red Bird Mission to help me put into words the work of the Spirit in this season of my life away from the “everyday”.

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My first week researching those who have aged out of foster care, was a  mental challenge that served to open my mind to those aged 18-25 who are at risk. Imagine a thousand children in Florida, alone, turned aside somewhere between age 18-25. I am grateful for the Independent Living at Residing Hope, our church’s Children’s Home (Enterprise, FL), and Hibiscus House (Vero Beach), both of which, together, support at least thirty young adults with housing, financial support, job training, food assistance, and more. I connected with two other organizations: Wings of Grace (Melbourne) and Foster Youth of America (Orlando) each ministering to at risk young adults.

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Beyond the intellectual, my journey has pushed me into a season of physical labor and emotional focus, hearing the cries of the needy. At Red Bird Mission, Beverly, KY, it would have been easy to just observe the good, hard work of others. Instead, God thrust me into two weeks where each day was filled with sorting and lifting boxes of canned and dry goods, boxing those goods for others (53 boxes, 20 lbs. each), delivering backpacks and shoes bursting full of supplies, and listening to others as they shared about their lives: no running water, hearing aids that don’t work, a need for food, and being in a desert of joblessness because the very community they live in offers few employment opportunities. This time was rich because those most in need were just as quick to share their blessings. (I may have too much stuff!)

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Finally, I find myself in Ontario on a little farm in the community of Welland. At first reading, I thought I would be in a sprawling 85-acre wooded area. However, where I am staying is three acres. This is the time to go deep, spiritually. It’s taken a week to settle in this unfamiliar space 70 farm animals free to roam and penned on the property -goats, chickens, dogs, geese, and 4 noisy turkeys, as well as. horses, alpacas, sheep, and a mule. And lots of bugs I have never seen before. Plus, my 400 square-foot accommodations, The Twiglet, with little signal. It’s good!

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I am grateful for time at Niagara Falls and the Ontario Botanical Gardens.  I will return before leaving this area, August 25th. I am grateful that I have friends and extended family who live just at the point of stopping and resting on my journey from Florida to New York to Ontario. And how human and welcoming it was to cross the border. 

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This nine-week journey that SUMC, the Florida Conference, and my six Covenant Clergy Sisters have gifted me with has touched me mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I am blessed and grateful to have this unfettered time with God.

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After finishing this entry for the SUMC website, I will shut down to begin to listen even more deeply. My commitment is to spend four days in seven for the next twenty, intentionally with God (and likely the farm animals I live with). God knows my needs; God knows our needs. Indeed, it is right to be still and know that [God] is God. (Psalm 46). I would rather be a

gatekeeper in the house of the Lord.

 

With more love than you know…Joy Joy – Pastor Alex