What does the church offer?

Recently I was at a text study with other pastors and the question of what the church has to offer came up. My answer to that question was that it is a broken community, filled with humans and their own brokenness that they bring. One of the other pastors replied that in the midst of this brokenness, this is where God lives. And this is so true! Despite our brokenness, God lives in the midst of all of our problems, our pain, and our faults. That is the hope!

Hand of Hope

Well, I have been married over a month now and at my new job for almost a month and life is grand. I am amazed at the ways in which God works and how God uses us to touch each others' lives. We have a daycare center at our church and just seeing how little children learn is amazing. I was going downstairs and one of the little, itty bitty girls was working her little legs on the stairs. She just looked up and me and smiled, exploring the world. I believe that we can all look at the world through the lens of a child and be amazed at God's creation and God's love all around us. Here is a story and picture that my mother-in-law sent to me :)

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by a surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb.

Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta . She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb. During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby.

As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger.

Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope."

The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life."

Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person."

Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful. Now see the actual picture, it is awesome...incredible....and hey, pass it on. The world needs to see this one! Don't tell me God isn't Awesome!!!!!

Home for now

So, yes, now I am Mrs. Hickey. I'm married and loving it. John and I are getting settled in here in Jamestown, NY. John is already into his second week of internship and I am in my first week at my new job as the Minister of Youth, Gospel, and World at Frist Presbyterian. Our house is in some order, but we're working on that. I look forward to being back at sem next week and seeing my class!