It is good to be back to work after having some time off. While it was a handful of weeks away from the congregation and I was able to have some vacation time, it was also work time elsewhere for our faith -- for our national General Assembly gathering as one of the Chaplain Co-Leads, on the Ministry Team for the Central East Region's Summer Institute, and leading worship for a couple of other congregations.

Service is one of my deeply held core values. I had to create a core list of values a handful of years ago now and service was the second item on my list (after relationship). I serve this congregation as minister, I serve our wider shared faith in the ways that I have been asked to, I serve as a volunteer and board member of the rescue and farm y'all have heard me mention before.

Service can mean different things to different people, and look different ways, but ultimately it means trying to make a difference in our lives and in the world. Robert Kennedy used to say, "One person can make a difference and each of us must try." None of us can save the whole world, but we can all try to do something to make it a better place.

I want to lift up the work of Faith in Florida (FiF), https://www.faithinflorida.org/, an organization that supports change throughout the state. One of their Pinellas organizers, Nick Carey, will be joining us for the Social Justice forum on August 21. Nick will share about FiF's work and how we can get involved in making a difference in caring for our neighbors and advocating for the better world we're trying to create, one person, one vote, one choice at a time.