You will notice the Bible in the picture. I am convinced that Jason’s House needs to be covered in prayer for today and tomorrow. Leaders need to draw strength and guidance from God’s Holy Word.
It will take a year of talking, learning and being trained by Elaine, and I am deeply grateful for her gracious timing. No one could ever fill her shoes, and she is very kind to teach new leadership and share what she has learned over the years. The new co-chairs of Jason’s House will be blessed by her guidance.
Co-chairs! Linda Ritchey and Mary Jane Miller have agreed to chair this mission, and ask for your prayers moving forward. Jason’s House is a great ministry that has witnessed the love of Christ to innumerable people, and with God’s help, will continue to do so.
On May 31, 2019, ownership of Rural Missions on Johns Island was transferred to South Carolina United Methodist Camps and Retreat Ministries. Many of you know this ministry through years of support and friendship with the former director, Mrs. Linda Gadson. Ownership was transferred in exchange for relief of debt. While the new name will be UMC Sea Islands Camp and Retreat Center, there is discussion about how the property will be used in the future. Discussion begins with the question: What could this place possibly be?
Rural Missions began in 1969 and has served the rural poor faithfully. However, under the mounting pressures of agricultural base changes, partnership erosion, and weather catastrophes, Rural Mission closed on February 28, 2019. A Thank-you celebration is planned for Mrs. Gadson and the rest of the staff.
The August edition of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate includes much more information about this transfer and more. While some paper copies are available at the church, you may also see https://www.advocatesc.org/ for more information.
When change like this happens, there is always grief for what is passing and anxiety for the future. These are natural responses. We find ourselves asking why things have to change or why can’t things stay the same. Our heads know change must happen; it is part of life. Our hearts don’t like it, though. In a recent reading of FaultLines by Steve DeNeff, I was struck by his analysis of our response to troubled times.
He wrote that we will either respond with a culture of control or with a culture of trust. Control will have us fighting to keep everything the same, and when circumstances do not allow that, we will be embittered and resentful. Trust admits things change, but that God has us in the palm of his hand. Trust means being calm even when we cannot see the next step in front of us.
Our Bible is filled with people who responded to changing situations with trust: Paul, Esther, Peter and Andrew, James and John, Rahab, Ruth and Jochebed, Abraham and Moses. As the old song says:
“Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Faithfully,
Pastor Scarlett