"In God's Flock"
The Presbyterian Youth Connection
Acts 9: 36-43; John 10: 22-30
May 25, 2010
Bradley Headrick
Coming to church here over the past 18 years has taught me many things about God. Probably one of the most important lessons is God’s chosen path for us. We are his sheep. Sometimes, his path can seem a little daunting and his methods, a little more than confusing and strange.
This was definitely true during my search for a college. For those of you who didn’t know, I originally applied to 8 different colleges from right here in Mobile to a tiny little town in Iowa. I narrowed it down and thought I had made a choice. That was when God interfered. I really don’t know how to explain it, but I just didn’t feel that the colleges I was seriously considering were really where I needed to be. I felt like I was being pulled in a different direction.
With weeks to go until my final decision was due, I happened across the umpteenth email from some college that seemed insistent I take a look at what they had to offer. I went to their website and started looking. It was a women’s college. I thought, “No way. That won’t happen in a million years… wait; does that say they have an equestrian team?”
Before I knew it, I was emailing the admissions counselor, asking if it was too late for me to apply. After finding out I had been accepted, I went to Macon, Georgia. My visit was completely different than any other college. I didn’t get that exciting feeling, I just knew. It wasn’t like other colleges where students, in their pj’s, flew past with papers flying behind them and a look of desperation, trying to get a breakfast bar down before they were late again. Everyone was relaxed and… “pretty chill”. They greeted me and showed me around. I sat in on a class where the professor leaned on the back two legs of his chair and addressed the 11 or so students around the table as though they had been friends for awhile.
By the time I left that day, I knew that Wesleyan was where I was supposed to spend the next four years. It’s experiences like this that let us know God is guiding us. He brought my parents here so I could experience being a part of this youth group; so that I could experience Montreat and lock-ins. He even led me to Pinetreat as a camper, where I met a set of twins named Alex and Emily Van Haneghan and a counselor named Kathryn Threadgill. I’m sure she had no idea she’d have to put up with us again years later….
John and Lynn and Barrett and I have some really big changes coming up. I don’t know about y’all, but it’s pretty comforting to me to know somebody knows where we’re headed. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to attend church and to begin my walk with God here. I’ve learned a lot about my faith and about a dedication of service to the community, both of which I will carry with me as I go off to school. Thank you for my experiences here, from playing the flute, to helping with the Coffee Club Christmas Party, and even being the Easter bunny that one time.
John Wyatt
Today is the big day for us seniors. It’s finally our time to turn the tables and preach a sermon to our parents and not get in trouble for it. Every year I was always reminded it would come but it seemed so far away. Now that it’s here, it seems to have snuck up on me faster than I expected, especially the part where I actually had to write a sermon. But looking back at my experiences growing up in this church, like hanging in the nursery with Frances, playing Bible Bingo in Sunday school, Montreat, confirmation, lock-ins and fellowship with the youth group, and just in general being in the presence of this church and its members, has shown me something. I realize that in this church, God’s voice is very plain and easy to hear. It has been easy to follow and keep sight of. It is obvious this place and this congregation are in God’s hands and everyone is a member of his flock. In the midst of all this thought, another realization dawned on me. I am about to leave. I am leaving the security of my home, protection and love from my parents, leaving dear friends behind and parting from others who will be attending different schools, and leaving the safety of the church and the sureness of God’s presence here. I know God’s hands will still lead me, but it’s a little scary to know I will be in a whole new place with new temptations and distractions that I haven’t ever faced before. Luckily, GSPC has taught me to seek out God. I know that I will still be able to hear his voice even though I am in a new place. There is also one new aspect thrust upon me here. I must learn to seek out his voice without the familiar guidance from the church and put into action what GSPC has taught me.
One value Government Street has instilled in me is the value of good works and community service. A memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life is participating in the Coffee Club Christmas parties. Even though each year I was running on about 3 hours of sleep, I always enjoyed helping out. The idea of community service leads me to another point. For those of you who don’t know, I will be attending the University of Alabama next year. I have been accepted into the University Fellows program there. This program is designed with an emphasis on academics and scholarship and mentoring, but also has another major focus: community service. All freshmen in the Fellows program participate in the Black belt project every year. At the end of the school year, the freshmen fellows travel down to the Black Belt area of Alabama. Every year they come up with a new agenda for improvements in the Black belt towns. They have built schools, furnished supplies, provided funds for education, tutored the students, built homes, assisted the handicapped and simply volunteered to help take care of working parents’ children. This year one of the major parts of the project is the building of a park for kids to have a safe place to play. As we heard in Acts, God uses his disciples to continue to carry out his works after Christ left the earth. I believe I was placed in the Fellows program for this reason. God has simply handed me a tool through which I will be able to perform works of service.
Trying to think of something to write as time wore down, this passage from John shot out at me. Jesus says, 28“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[c]; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.” As I am about to leave home and start a new chapter in my life, I find this passage comforting. I know that through this church I have become a member of God’s flock.
As a final note, I would like to say thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the wonderful eighteen years here. Thank you to this church, this congregation, and everyone else who worked here and helped raise me through faith and helped me develop my own faith. I honestly cannot think of a better place in which I could have grown up and grown closer to God. GSPC has given me something that is more important than anything else; my relationship with Christ. Thank you and I love and will miss you all.
Lynn Tamblyn
“Mary Had A Little Lamb”
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure
to go. It followed her to school one day, That was against the rules; It made
the children laugh and play, To see a lamb at school. And so the teacher turned
it out, But still it lingered near; And waited patiently about Till Mary did
appear. Why does the lamb love Mary so? The eager children cry; Why, Mary loves
the lamb you know, The teacher did reply.
Other than it being one of the first songs I learned how to play on the piano,
Mary Had a Little Lamb has always been my favorite nursery rhyme. It was not
until I started looking for sheep stories to incorporate into my sermon that I
realized that almost all nursery rhymes center around the story of a sheep. To
name a few: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Bo Peep, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Little
Boy Blue. In fact, from my days as a younger girl I remember knowing a great
deal about sheep. After dogs and cats, sheep were a pretty well known animal in
preschool. But in all of the stories about sheep, especially in Sunday school,
they seemed to always be getting lost.
Now I have actually never had a personal encounter with a sheep, other than holding a lamb at the pre-school’s petting zoo, but I have had quite a few experiences with being lost. Other than being mentally lost during a history lesson or unsure of the exact directions to a friend’s house, I have actually been physically lost in no place other than Montreat, North Carolina.
Last summer, twelve GSPC youth made the journey to stay in a beautiful house in Montreat and attend the youth conference. Little did we know that it was at the top of a mountain. By the end of the week, however, we were grateful, because the view was extraordinary and we burned off the pounds of Mrs. Gail’s delicious frozen treats we ate at bedtime. I’m sure that many of you have been to Montreat before, so you know that it is not a little place with straight streets and clearly labeled signs. And knowing us, you know that we are quite adventurous teenagers. We woke up on Sunday morning and decided to make a run to the general store in search of some caffeine and Chex Mix. Disagreeing on the roads to take down the mountain, we split up into two teams, each taking a different fork in the road. Eventually, we both made it to the store. Unfortunately, it was closed. Determined, we searched high and low for a coke machine and within minutes, we found one in Assembly Inn. We took a quick rest and started our voyage back to the top of the mountain. And this is when the fun began.
We decided not to split up, and of course, we were certain that we were going the right way. We were wrong. All of the streets were named after states, but Mississippi Street was north of Tennessee Road and, as a result, we got completely lost with all of our directions. It had already been at least thirty or forty minutes, so we called Mrs. Gail and Kara for help, but they couldn’t help us because we couldn’t even describe where we were. We asked a little girl playing outside which way the top of the mountain was, and she pointed in a direction with an uncertain look on her face. Just as we started leaving nature signals of which places on the road we had passed before, we saw an amazing sight: Ian Murray driving the bus up the mountain looking for us. Of course, the entire experience ended up only lasting a little over an hour and a half, but nonetheless, we were extremely thankful. For that entire hour and a half, we were completely unsure of ourselves and unfamiliar with our surroundings.
Maybe one day Montreat will become as familiar to us as the residents that live there, but right now, we find comfort on the familiar streets in Mobile, in our halls at school, and on the sidewalks of our neighborhoods. In three days, I will have to accept the fact that next year, my surroundings will not be as familiar. Three days. That is all I have left at the school that I have called my home for the past 13 years. Three more days to set my alarms for 5:55, 6:10, and 6:15, to eventually get out of bed at 6:40. My mom won’t be able to set out my uniform, and my dad will no longer fix my lunches.
That’s not to say that I’m not looking forward to college. After touring 14 schools during my junior year, Auburn was the clear decision. I love it and just as my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and oldest sister have come to call it home, I know that I will be able to also. Like I have to tell my panicky classmates before a big test, “everything will be okay.” Just as the lamb followed Mary to school, I will continue to follow Jesus Christ even when I am 241 miles away from my GSPC family. God will continue to shape my life, and I will continue to strive to “work in my Father’s name.” Like Mary in the nursery rhyme, “Jesus knows his sheep, and we know Him.” “He will not let anyone snatch us out of His hand.”
And as I travel to my new home, making many more memories to add to my collection of ones made with my church family, I will never forget GSPC’s role in building my faith and providing me with a supporting and loving family. I will never forget Sunday school with Mrs. Carolla and Mrs. Charlotte, the nursery with Mrs. Frances, Mrs. Shelia’s cooking, having our hymnals automatically open to 525 because Mrs. Bodie let us sing our favorite song every week, my eighteen years at Kids’ Camp with Amanda, whether I was a camper or a volunteer, Sunday school with Mrs. Paula, and the seemingly hundreds of Christmas pageants with Mr. Terry and Mrs. Wanda. My time at GSPC is far from over, y’all can’t get rid of me this easily. In fact, we still have an entire summer until I become a Christmas/Easter member for the next seven years. Let’s continue to grow in faith together, and look forward to a summer of Kids’ Camp, Montreat, and mission camp in God’s name. With God as our spiritual guide, and Kathryn as our leader, throughout our lives, the youth and I at GSPC will remain in God’s flock. AMEN