"And Craig was Smiling"

I tend to talk about the things that are on my mind the most....well... as most of you know, I recently left my appointment (Sunday was my last day) and started this week at Indian Heights UMC as their one and only Pastor. Just me.

My first Sunday is this Sunday and I look forward to sharing my story with them, to sharing the Good News of Christ with them and helping them to believe, as my good friend Tiffany has helped me to know, that they are enough, they are worthy and they belong.

My last week at Grace was a classic last week. I got home from annual conference on a Saturday morning, preached Saturday evening, did a funeral on Monday and packed up my desk on Tuesday and Thursday. Phew.

I have talked about my anxiety on here, I have talked about my stress and of course situations like that bring out all of those feelings in me. I have ways I handle things but there are times when you need something you do not realize and that for me came from our accompanist right before the funeral service.

Rick is the Director of Music for Grace and knew my dad really well as he was the choir director and my dad loved that choir, they even sang at his funeral.

Rick called me over and told me that he usually doesn't think much about Pastors moving and struggles with the belief that we can still be surrounded by our loved ones once they pass yet he smiled at me, got tears in his eyes and said "When I heard of your appointment change, I looked up and saw Craig just smiling. He is so proud of you".

Part of my grief in leaving Grace is leaving the church that my dad loved. Not being able to look at the choir loft each week and see my dad's face and leaving the place where we celebrated his life.

And then Rick reminded me that the veil between this world and the next is so thin. That Jesus went before us, prepared a table and my dad is sitting at that table smiling and I guarantee you he will be singing in the choir on Sunday at Indian Heights, sitting in the front row and smiling as I start this next adventure in my family's life.

God bless the things you don't expect and pay attention to them when they happen.

Know you are loved, worthy and belong

Rev. Ali

This is Summer

I don't particularly love summer. I like spring and fall a lot better but it seems as though we now have two seasons that are either so hot it is unbearable or so cold you don't ever want to leave you bed. Heat and I are just not friends.

I am fair skinned and burn faster than you can imagine. I can go outside for 10 minutes and burn, I can ride in a car and burn, if I don't reapply every 45 minutes I can burn. I can remember as a child our family never went to the beach, well just a few times. I remember my mom telling us to pretend we were Irish because that would at least help people know why we were so fair skinned and wore layers to the beach :-)

Paul has helped me get out of my comfort zone this summer. On the hottest of days he has made me come outside and watch the kids run through the sprinkler and allow them to spray me. He has made us all get in the hot hot hot hot car and go get ice cream. Watching your two year old eat ice cream really is a joy and a mess. He made us go fishing as a family the other night....we didn't catch anything and the mosquitoes were everywhere but we went.

So maybe just maybe this whole summer thing is starting to grow on me.

Watching Henry chase lightning bugs, watching Tannie experience the pool, watching them both pull down the branches of the mulberry tree and eat the berries- now that is summer and is something I am enjoying.

This week the great plains conference of the United Methodist Church is gathering for annual conference. We are in Wichita and it is HOT. Yet as I walked to and from my car today I wasn't upset about the heat, I just simply soaked it in (it also helped that this nice man in a golf cart drove me to my car in the heat of the afternoon!)

This is my first conference. I have found it to be interesting so far and I have learned a thing or two I didn't know but the part I truly enjoyed and will soak in was being in the clergy section. Going to the clergy sessions, seeing my name listed in the long booklet of clergy in our conference, along with the retired clergy which includes my grandfather. I am fulfilling his legacy and seeing my name with his- well that was enough for me to know that I truly am.

When we focus on what we don't like about things we aren't able to live in the present and in the moment. We aren't able to experience the beauty of this earth that God has created, we aren't able to fully participate in the Kingdom of God that is everywhere we go.

Enjoy the heat, go to the pool, watch your kids chase fireflies and experience the Kingdom of God in everything you do.

Also, my mother in-laws apple pie really is the icing on the cake

Have a blessed summer.

It's in my blood...here we go!

I like plans. 

I like structure. I like knowing what is coming next.

God however, has a different way of doing things. God tends to come into our lives and change things when we don't think we need a change, when we are content with what is happening in our lives and when we have planned our career around when our children will both be in school full time.

My world is changing a bit...

Mother's Day weekend we were in Andover visiting my in-laws. I had two missed calls over that weekend from a 785 area code and just ignored both. I get a lot of soliciting calls and people saying I won a trip to Florida and a cruise- of course after I pay $1000. 

When we got home, I finally listened to the voicemail and it was our district superintindent- my boss in the United Methodist Church. 

My first thought was "crap. crap. crap. They only call for one reason this time of year"

You see this is appointment season. I thought I had gotten through it without getting a call because it was late in the season and I wasn't requesting a new appointment nor was Grace asking for me to move. 

Yet I knew why he was calling and I was right.

"Hi Ali..."

And that was it. I was offered a full time appointment. My OWN church. ME. Why me? 

I have been told multiple times by my dear friend Tiffany that I am enough, that I deserve good things and that I will be a great Pastor. But me? 

I haven't been to seminary yet and I am still taking classes. So me? 

I said yes within 24 hours, met with the Staff Parish committee later that week and my church home at Grace was told this week.

As of July 1st, I will be the Lead and ONLY Pastor at Indian Heights UMC in Overland Park.

ME!

I keep thinking why. I keep wondering what are they thinking and then I go to God.

I trust that God is putting me in the right place. I trust that God knows I can do this and I trust in a God that gives me the strength I need to lead.

It is interesting. I am a good leader. I ran a domestic violence shelter and co-supervised over 30 people. I made policies, changes and did things that were incredibly hard. Of course I can run a church...but every week? As the only Pastor? 

It's in my blood. My family is United Methodist through and through. Our family has had Pastors in every generation (except my mom's) dating back to the circuit riders.

This is my calling. This is what I am supposed to do. 

The members of this church are lovely. They are kind, generous, welcoming and open- everything I love about the United Methodist Church. I am beyond thrilled to be their new Pastor and I can't wait to see where this next chapter takes me.

I am sad to leave Grace. That church raised me. I have been a member there for 20 years. My dad's funeral was there. Both of my kids were baptized there but at some point everyone has to move on. To spread their wings and fly.

So here we go and I can't wait.

Blessings to you all. Come find me on July 1st and every Sunday after at Indian Heights in OP.