I hope that everyone is surviving the heat and remaining Covid free!

When Josh asked Vestry members to take a week during his leave to write a Spirit Shot article, I chose one of the further dates to give myself ample time to produce something inspirational. All the previous articles have been heartfelt, insightful and a pleasure to read.

My husband and I are Emmanuel transplants and came to Holy Spirit by accident or as I like to say, “We are all where we are supposed to be.” Holy Spirit was such a welcoming place, and it was an easy transition.

My mind occasionally wanders (except during church or while my wife is speaking). This week at work, while experts discussed ways to decrease employee attrition levels in industry, my thoughts drifted to the recent images of distant galaxies captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. My wife sent me several photos and articles; the expanse of the universe never fails to amaze, delight, and perplex. The images just pull a person away from Earth.

My wife and I first attended Holy Spirit at the end of 2018. Following the service we were immediately met by Lisa Wright, then Sarah Condon, and finally Allison Nieto. They each offered no pressure, very genuine we are here for you and would love to have you in our church quick conversations. The following weeks we met other families that offered the same genuine welcome to our church introductions. It wasn’t a hard decision to make to call Holy Spirit our church home soon after.

A sense of balance in my life… that is what I needed. Prior to joining Holy Spirit, I had been the caretaker for a lovely little woman. She was not family. She was my friend’s 93 year-old mother. My friend passed away and I took on the management of this sweet lady. We spent four years together, including every Sunday as our visiting time. While I enjoyed those years helping her, I realized after her passing I was missing balance in my life. I needed to get back to church.

One of the very first events my family attended at Holy Spirit was the July 4th patriotic sing-a-long in 2018! Sometimes that seems like yesterday and at other times, so long ago! What a marvelous introduction to such a wonderful spirit-filled place! Tony and I were invigorated by the music but even more so by the church community. People were welcoming, friendly and encouraging. That event was the beginning of our transition to Holy Spirit, and we are so grateful!

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.

While it is still a bit more than a week away, I wanted to write a few words about Father’s Day. I am lucky to be a father of three – Paul, Ben, and Hannah, ages 27, 25, and 21. While Evelyn and I have had a wonderful 30 years of marriage, I can’t imagine my life without the “kids.”