Grace and Peace my Fellow St. Lukers!

I pray this email finds you well. The Denmarks are back from our summer vacation and what a blessing our time was. You know everyone has a place they prefer; to get away, recharge, relax, and recuperate. For us… it’s the beach. I grew up surfing up and down the east coast, I loved early morning dawn patrols, and when there’s a full moon (and a break) … late night moonlight runs. And while I’ll take any beach (that’s not filled with people) Shelly prefers the calm waters and the sunsets of the west coast. Each sunset different from the last and each one absolutely beautiful. This time around I noticed a family staying at the place we were staying. There were three generations; grandparents, parents and children. Something I noticed was how the parents and grandparents each day were teaching the grandkids something, how to set up the umbrella, set out the chairs, hook bait, cast a line (that’s fishing), find the best seashells. The best was watching the grandpa teach the youngest to swim in the ocean (Gulf). It takes a lot of trust. Trust from the parents that grandpa will do it well and keep the young child safe, for sure! But even more so, trust from the child, that they will be okay, safe, secure in their grandpa’s arms through the moving, breaking waters with all of its uncertainty. There was a lot of back and forth – as you would expect. But eventually the grandchild trusted the grandpa and began to venture more fully into the vast, powerful, refreshing beauty, and fun of the ocean.

 This week Pastor Corey and I will be preaching from John 16 and thinking about Trust, as we are halfway through our “Finding the Missing Peace” sermon series. What do you trust? What makes it hard for you to trust? Do you find yourself sometimes a bit like the grandkid on the beach, going back and forth with God in trusting that God will be with you? I hope you’ll join us this weekend for worship! The worship teams have been preparing powerful worship elements of song and prayer and we will be celebrating how God has worked through YOU, St. Luke’s. This past week we collected 212 “Bags of Grace”, that will impact 848 people. THAT IS HUGE! Well done St. Luke’s. This weekend, we transition from “Bags of Grace” to our annual collection of Backpacks and school supplies for children in Orange County. Our goal this year is 800 backpacks and I TRUST (see what I did there!?) we can meet and surpass that goal and make an even bigger impact in the lives of children in our community. The Backpack Drive kicks off this Saturday at our inaugural “Take pART” 2018, A Festival of the Arts. We hope you can join us and bring a fun backpack to this family-friendly event from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. with food trucks arriving at 4:00 p.m. and Open Mic Night starting at 6:00 p.m.

 God bless you St. Lukers! See you Sunday.

Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Jad

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