Leslie

“Where are you from, Texas?” It was 1979 and my family had just moved from Booneville, Mississippi, a small town about 2 hours south of Memphis, Tennessee to Bailey, Colorado, an even smaller town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and about an hour drive from Denver. It was the question kids would ask me, trying to make sense of my heavy southern accent.  I guess Texas and the South were one and the same to those kids. 

It was in this small mountain town that I did my growing up and met my closest friends to this day. It was also in that setting that I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church, Church of the Transfiguration. A small, beautiful church next to the rumbling waters of Bear Creek in Evergreen, CO. A 45-minute drive from our home along a long, winding mountain road. If you’re ever driving from Denver to the ski slopes of Breckenridge, Vail, or Winter Park, you should veer off I-70 for a few short miles and check it out.

Just like that road from Bailey to Evergreen, my faith journey has been a long and winding one – a World Religions class in high school with field trips to Taoist, Buddhist, and Christian services, a non-denomination community church and youth group, Presbyterian churches and student groups in college, bouncing around the various Episcopal churches in Nashville (college) and Atlanta, and some periods in there with more sleeping-in on Sundays than church-going.

That road has lead me to St. Martin’s, where my kids were both baptized, I taught my first children’s chapel (adults reading a children’s bible is a good thing!), and I truly started to understand all that makes up a church community.

St. Martin’s has offered a wide array of experiences – from talking about colleges with my daughter, Steve, and Becky at last February’s Shrove Pancake Supper (that seems like so long ago!); hanging out in the back of the sanctuary with my usher friends – Jim, Marion, Kathy, Jamie, Clayton, John, Rob, and others; learning from Beth and the altar guild about the traditions that make the services so special, and most recently helping to revision our ministry for children and youth. I’m looking forward to the continued journey!