Newsletter to WLA

Ok, so imagine with me for a moment. There’s an acoustic guitar playing, it’s being picked and strummed, and it sounds deep and rich. The kind of sound that makes you just want to sit in a hammock on a summer afternoon. There’s also a shaker keeping a gentle rhythm in the background, and another guitar softly soloing to accent certain notes. And just when you’re wondering what is going on and why this music is playing you hear Kenny Chesney start singing, “There’s a blue rockin’ chair, sittin’ in the sand. Weathered by the storms, and well oiled hands. It sways back and forth, with the help of the winds. Seems to always be there, like an ol’ trusted friend. I’ve read a lot of books, wrote a few songs. Looked at my life, where it’s goin’, where it’s gone. I’ve seen the world, through a bus windshield. But nothing compares, to the way that I see it, to the way that I see it, to the way that I see it, when I sit in that Old Blue Chair.” Ok now come back to reality for me. I know you loved that. I also know that quoting a Kenny Chesney song is not necessarily the most traditional way to start a letter of this sort. But he expresses a feeling that I’m trying to express but in a much better way than I can (trust me, I tried). I’m just trying to say that West London Alliance Church is like that Old Blue Chair for me, no matter where I go (stick with me and I’ll talk about that in a few seconds) WLA will always be home, the place that I learned and grew up. I have to thank so many people for all these years, but I have to especially thank Graham for being such a strong mentor, leader, and friend.

Speaking of Graham, he’s the one who hooked me up with a sweet summer job in Muskoka Woods. Which leads into the purpose of this letter. I stood on the beach of Lake Rosseau talking to a married couple who were missionaries from Northern Ireland about them being Irish (I believe I was making fun of their accents). Naturally, being a big Van Morrison, U2, and Cranberries fan I asked them about the music scene in Ireland. The wife, named Janet, just laughed a bit (a hearty Irish laugh) and said they weren’t big into it, although she said that she had heard one of her sister’s songs on the radio once she got to Canada. This peaked my interest and impulsively I asked her who her sister was. She just smiled (she was always smiling) and said, “Kathryn Scott, have you heard of her?” I exclaimed my enthusiasm at her answer by telling her that I had heard of Kathryn Scott and that I’d been singing and playing her songs for years at Church and Youth group. She chuckled back jokingly, “Oh, well maybe you should come over and take an internship with her in Ireland.”

Let me now change my tone a little bit. I begin this part by proclaiming and acknowledging how much God has blessed my life to this point. The blessing alone to be loved by Him is enough, but still I have been blessed with a family and a community in which I can learn of Him who loves me more. Now that, to me as a sinner, is grace from a loving God. This whole idea and plan for me interning in Ireland did not come about through any means other than prayer and trust in God. It did not come from a craving for adventure but from a craving to experience God and learn of Him through servitude and worship. I have prayed and read Scriptures to seek God’s direction and will for me, and through each step of this journey I have turned to Him for guidance. I gladly declare that I don’t care where God sends me, but only that it is He who sends me. It appears now, that Lord willing I will be going to Northern Ireland, and unless some unexpected bump in the road throws this whole thing off course, then that’s what I’m doing. I will be working as a Youth Ministry Intern at Causeway Coast Vineyard Church, less than 1000 feet from the North Atlantic coastline. I have the opportunity to be leading and teaching kids and teenagers, as well as planning and organizing different outreach ministries to reach the nearby communities, and even Belfast. They will also be giving me a certain amount of schooling and theological education. I have received support from those who are close to me, my family and friends, and I would be no-where along this path without them. I’m coming to the point where I am in need of support from my church family as well, in a financial way yes, but more importantly in prayer. Because God listens to our prayers, and I need God through this, pray that He would use me, challenge me, test me, guide me, support and strengthen me, and that through me He may be glorified. Please if you wish to support me in any way, or ask me questions, or just catch up before I go, contact me. I hope to keep a blog going throughout my 10 months there that I encourage you to check out as well. Thank you again for the support I’ve already received from the church family, you’ll always be my Old Blue Chair.

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn!”
~ C.S. Lewis

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519-641-0947
jpsterio@gmail.com

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