Paw Patrol and a Church Home
We started to attend Holy Spirit in the spring of 2018. We came after being enthusiastically recruited by the one and only Annie Condon via our oldest daughter, Alexandra, who was new to HSES. Annie and Alexandra instantly bonded over matching pairs of Paw Patrol shoes (apparently a big deal to preschoolers). Alexandra came home one day and let us know that Annie had invited her to church and she absolutely begged us to go to church one Sunday. At the time, we did not have a church home and decided to just “check it out.” The peace we felt at Holy Spirit was immediate and unlike anything Jordan and I have ever felt at a church before. During one of our first Sundays, I remember Sarah quoting her dear mother, saying, “We take you to church every Sunday so you have something to fall back on when life gets hard.” This quote stuck with me, but I wouldn’t realize its full impact for some time.
Little did we know how fully those words would apply to our family until three years later when I received a cancer diagnosis. Before I even had time to fully process the news of my diagnosis, my Holy Spirit family surrounded and supported Jordan, Alexandra, Elizabeth, and me with more love than my heart could bear. I’ve always been comforted in the fact that God is so predictable in his unpredictability. Time and time again we are shown that he shows up in unexpected places. For me, he showed up in a recorded video of dear Holy Spirit ladies praying over me the night before my surgery. He showed up via rides to chemo. He showed up through countless meals delivered to us by our church family. He showed up in a basket with champagne to celebrate the end of my treatment. And four years ago, in a way unrealized at the time, God even showed up via two little pairs of Paw Patrol shoes.
Our journey through life is sometimes painful. Our spiritual journey is often trying. But God grants us safe harbor through grace, and one of God’s true blessings is community. I will be forever grateful that we found a safe place at Holy Spirit to fall back on when life got so very hard.
Grateful,
Christine Wise
Vestry