05/25/2026
When Matthew was taking his bath, he started playing with the shampoo. He would let it slide off of his fingers into the water, where it promptly dissolved. He looked intrigued and after doing this a few times he asked, "Mommy, where did the soap go?".
I replied that it had dissolved. I know, that's a big concept for an almost three-year-old. I tried again. I said it's in the water now, part of the water. We can't get it back out and now the water is different too. It will always have the soap in it.
Yesterday was Pentecost, celebrated as the birthday of the church. A day when the Holy Spirit came unto early Christians and became part of them. It empowered them. It transformed them.
The Holy Spirit, to me, is kind of like the soap and water analogy. Once you accept the Holy Spirit into your life, once you allow it to touch you, consume you, become part of you, it can never be taken away. And you will forever be changed by it. While the Holy Spirit is not something we can see exactly, it is most definitely something we can feel. We know it is there because we then feel empowered to share the news of Christ, what He has done for us, how He has walked with us, shaped us and made us into something so much better than what we would be on our own.
A touching testimony was shared by one of our church members yesterday. Hers was a story of survival, of strength in a situation that may have had a horrible ending had God not been with her, helping her to grow stronger each day. And a story of beauty and goodness in the healing.
As we all weather storms in our lives, remember- we do not ask God to prevent them storm, we ask Him to hold us through it. To guide us, carry us, comfort us, and sustain us until the storm has passed and the sun shines again.
St. John's UMC- No Judgement Zone
