I moved to China with 7 suitcases, my husband & 2 year old, and the name of 1 contact.
5 years later we moved to Morro Bay. 10 suitcases. 2 kids. No contacts.
7 years pastoring Coastlands we feel the invitation. It’s been quietly rustling and building to the point we can’t ignore it.
Aslan is on the move.
Breath, life, death, grief, breath, life, death…
Try to escape it. But you can’t.
The joy of new breath and life come on the heels of death and grief.
I grieved leaving the US to move to China while I dreamed of adventures that awaited.
I fell in love with a country and people, I grieved and wept until I had no more tears the day I left that country and people I had come to love.
We trusted, waited, explored in Morro Bay not knowing why or where our people & purpose were to collide.
Just on time this little community captured our hearts. Our people. Safe theology. Home. Life. Growing. Love. Sorrow and joy. Shared with strangers turned family.
We both said, “We can’t let this little Coastlands church die.” And we didn’t. Chris has taught us a truer, more beautiful view of God than I have ever known.
Chris, thanks for loving our community well. For loving God, even when it means following into the unknown.
Coastlands, we’ve had a gem all to ourselves for these years and now we get to share him.
As a member of Coastlands I have been transformed by his teaching, and by your love, and I will forever cherish these Sundays together.
Once again I find my heart simultaneously weeping and dreaming.
Daring to trust this God into a new adventure while honoring the cost of another transition.
Once again I picture the Spirit hovering over the darkness and chaos of life.
Like a momma eagle She is covering us on all sides. Covering Coastlands on all sides. Covering our hearts, stories, hopes, dreams, hurts, fears…
She is not afraid.
She is Hope.
She is our very breath.
May she always guide our life’s vision.
I will always bet on an adventure with God over knowing how it will all work out. That space where it’s ‘just’ a little nonsensical is where I meet God.
It’s where I partake in what it must be like to create. To in this very present moment breathe something that wasn’t into something that will never not be.
It’s been four days since we said it out loud. Since we dared to follow our hearts and once again bet on an adventure with God over security. Over what others may judge.
And I feel alive. Free. Excited to watch all the ways this unfolds.
To the Coastlands family- we’re not leaving community. We’re simply changing our role. How can we, in integrity, talk about following Jesus while ignoring His invitation to something new? There are books, messages, workshops, and healing spaces beyond our walls that Chris & I are being invited into.
We don’t go without you, we are always connected.
Sometimes we don’t know how long we get to share a timeline with someone or something.
Friends, our lives will provide us opportunities to listen to the whispers in our hearts. We can listen and follow, or stay. No judgement either way.
Just always like your reasons. And for our family, it’s always been to follow.
From Africa to Chile to China to California and 40+ countries in between. From miscarriage to a baby to more miscarriages and 2 more babies. From health to sickness to autoimmune issues to transplants.
Chris Failla- To all of it, I’m here.
With you.
Until death do us part.
Just as I asked God for you to see a shooting star that night in Africa 19 years ago, I now ask again that your days and months will be full of shooting stars.
Love,
Sarah