Every year for Christmas my family and I go to this beautiful place in the mountains of north east Tennessee on the border of North Carolina where you can see many of God's beautiful creations and we always try to see as many of them as we can while we are there for the seven days we have to do so and one that we have been meaning to see happened this past season.

We followed a section of the Elk River north along the Tennessee /North Carolina line and as we followed, it began to drop, small falls of two feet, three feet, four feet and then a drop of over 40 feet, the elk river falls, and to get to the bottom is really a close family gathering because of it's steep decline and slippery pathway you really need to hold close to each other before you reach the bottom.

As we approached the bottom of the falls there was a formation of solid rock that reached out to the center of the pool were the falls touched bottom. I walked to the end of the formation and I could feel the power unlike no other. I said to myself " this is not man made, this is something that man could never create " and as I approached the center the large waterfall was to my right and a smaller 6 foot waterfall was to my left and below me. When I closed my eyes I could feel the breath of God and I could hear the whisper of God's voice, and what he said to me was " take your family and yourself back to your roots, back to the sign under which you were born in the Episcopal Church, and there I will meet you and show you what I have planned for you".

So when we got home I went to the Episcopal Church website, put in my zip code and up came St Thomas Episcopal Church, 5400 Belle Terre pky. Palm Coast. We went that Sunday, the first Sunday in January ( the sign under which I was born ) and as we entered through the front doors we felt shy as we noticed a lot of unfamiliar faces gathered and greeting each other. As the 7:30 service let out we made our way to the pews of the old chapel and as we sat down we felt at ease and a sense of warmth (though it could have been that the a/c was turned down). The sermon that Sunday was about why the Christmas tree was still up and why Christmas extends past the the date of December 25th which fit the moment well since we always have an extended Christmas after we come home with the rest of our family members and relatives. After the sermon when Father Bob asked for newcomers to introduce themselves, we felt welcomed by having the chance to introduce ourselves and as members of the congregation welcomed us after the 8:30 service we felt and became a part of St. Thomas.

We have been to other Church's Catholic, Lutheran and even Praise assembly and I have felt God's presence before But none have brought us as close to the presence of God and fellowship with other members of the congregation as with St. Thomas.

And ever since I hear God's whisper every day on many occasions like the man on the side of the road, he told me to stop for, who had one leg and hitchhiked from N.Y. and was having a streak of bad luck. God reached out to him through me to give him the strength to make his way back home, what an honor to be used by God to touch the sole of a brother in need and witness the miracle seen on that mans face that day.

God has plans for all of us, all we need to do is open our eyes to see his footprints, open our ears to hear his whisper and open our hearts to feel the joy of his presence.