Rector’s Reflections

June 14, 2026

 Dear People of God,

 I share three vignettes this week for your food for thought. Enjoy and pass them on…

Shipwreck

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. 

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements and store his few possessions. But one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened — everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. “God, how could you do this to me!” he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.  “How did you know I was here? Asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied. 

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn’t lose heart because God is at work in our lives, even amid pain and suffering. So, remember, next time you feel your hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God. No matter our age, God is our joy, hope, and peace. God steers our ship, and we need to trust.

And I continue with…                                                                   

 The Secret of Soul

“I often describe my 11-year-old as an immovable slug of a boy, so when I asked him to help me unload dirt from our small pickup into his mother’s new garden boxes, his reaction was typical. “Ummmm…I’m busy right now,” he said.

He was playing Roblox on the family laptop, wearing sweatpants and an old T-shirt, lounging on the sofa, and his feet on the coffee table. 

“No, you are not,” I said.

There was a fight, moaning, excuses…the usual.

Moments later, we were next to a wheelbarrow, shoveling dirt. He looked at me with flat eyes, his hood up, shoulders slumped, and said, “Why do we have to do this?”

I thought for a moment, because I’ll admit, it was a valid question. Neither of us were all that into flowers or vegetables, or any of the things that would be grown in those garden boxes. But my wife, Mel, loves gardening.

I thought, and he waited, and finally I said, “When you love someone, you serve them. 

I went on, telling him I want him to grow up to be the kind of man who serves his family, friends, and community.

“This,” I said, while gesturing to the dirt, and the garden boxes I built the weekend before, and the wheelbarrow and shovel, and the first of many truckloads of dirt we would unload over the next few weeks, “is what love looks like.”

He didn’t like my answer. I could see it in the way he reluctantly picked his shovel back up. We finished unloading the dirt. The next day, while I was at work and the kids and Mel had the day off because it was between terms, Mel picked up another load of dirt, and before she had a chance to unload it, Tristan volunteered to work on it. When she asked him why, he shrugged and said, “Because I love you.”

I’d never been prouder of my son.

And I conclude with…                         

A Parent’s Prayer

Lord, as I live this day, please grant me the ability to laugh at my children’s antics: the time to share their moments of pride: the need to praise their separate strengths: the faith to trust their growing judgment; the patience to understand their changing moods; the ears to hear what they are saying; the tenderness to understand their broken dreams. And the wisdom to accept that their lives, as my own, are built just one day at a time.

Blessings and joy,

Fr. Greg