It was exactly a year ago that my family was evacuated from Tampa in preparation for Hurricane Irma. Our home was near the water and was in a mandatory evacuation zone. At that time they were expecting storm surges between 8 and 10 feet (i.e. almost as tall my house!) We left late in the...
This past summer my family spent a week at a beach in North Carolina. The house that we stayed at had a canal in the backyard. Zoe and Riley noticed this and immediately began begging to go fishing. They each had a child sized fishing pole (pink, of course). And they assured me that...
Sarah and I took the girls on a trip to Colorado recently. We traveled to a section of the state that I had never been to before- Durango. This is a remote area! We flew into Albuquerque, New Mexico because it was the closest major airport. Then we drove 4 hours into Durango! It was...
At the end of last week’s sermon I asked for the congregation to pay attention to the times that they “woke up” to God’s presence in their life. In Jacob’s story, he thought that he was completely alone; running from his problems and his troubles. As he slept in the wilderness with a rock for...
I went on my first overnight backpacking trip in middle school. The pack was about as large as I was. I was so excited for the adventure of carrying my food, clothing, and tent on my back and taking off into the wilderness. The first five miles were strenuous but uneventful. We followed a narrow...
Jay Sloan is an elder and the current chair of the Unity Mission Team. He recently wrote this report on an encounter he had with a local neighbor. CPJ has launched “Building Bridges to Racial Unity” with a stated purpose to grow proactively into being better neighbors to African-American residents in East Lincoln County. We...
Today I am in Banner Elk for a Presbytery meeting. This is my first time in this part of North Carolina. I feel like I have been saying it so often since I’ve moved here, but what a beautiful state! I am looking forward to gathering with other pastors and elders from the churches of...
Greetings from Spokane, Washington! I am on study leave this week as I attend a conference for pastors at Whitworth University (my alma mater). Twice a year, I will take a week of study leave in order to learn, reflect, and grow as a pastor. My week will be used in two main ways: Study: ...
This week, I am officiating a wedding at Sunset Beach, NC. This is my first time visiting a North Carolina beach. It is also the first time that I will conduct a wedding ON a beach. I’m really looking forward to it. My family spent the morning splashing in the waves and building sandcastles in...
A couple of weeks after my family first moved to North Carolina, we visited Sweetwater Farm in Huntersville. Once a month they open their farm to the public. We went because we wanted to show Zoe and Riley where their food came from. The girls had so much fun seeing all of the animals. There...
