What is in Your Hand?: A Journey Toward SHALOM

What is in your hand? God once asked Moses this profound yet simple question. God obviously understood the answer, but did Moses? In his hand he held a simple shepherd staff that would part the Red Sea waters! Do we like Moses really hear the invitation to enter into a personal relationship based on truth and trust with God Himself? The Kingdom of God on earth becomes a reality when we open our hearts and hands to this question and partnership.

In 1987, Sara and Glen Collison moved to Kalamazoo and bought a condemned property! After six months of hard work, their renovated nineteenth century Southwest Michigan farmhouse became a twelve-bed licensed foster care home for adults with developmental disabilities. By 1990, SHALOM Inc. was born. God places us on the journey to discover what He designed just for us, what will give a sense of wholeness and peace. God was at work in 1963-Sara's Jewish father disowned her when she chose to follow Christ. Sara recalls, "My mom, however, would not interfere, because I was given back to God when I was severely burned and my life hung in the balance when I was only two years old [1946]. A little wool coat saved my life!" Now in 2018, SHALOM raises sheep and Sara notes, "You see not a single experience is wasted in God's spiritual kingdom." God uses what we already possess (talent, influence, skills, resources, circumstances, health/sickness) to do what we were created to do.

As with Moses, God still proposes, "What is in your hand?" A shepherd staff? How about a flower shop? A grocery store? A poor farm with dairy cows? Sheep? Goats? Nursing skills?-Yes! The Collisons gave all that to God and in return, they found their journey toward shalom!