I was asked to preach for our my new churches annual picnic and I thought that I would post the sermon since it tells a little bit about how I became a US-2 missionary. Obviously it isn't the ASL version. We had a great day at the picnic. many poeple showed up and we spent time playing softball and chatting with one another. It was a wonderful day for fellowship. Thank the Lord!


Thank you for welcoming me today at your annual church picnic. If I sign slow I apologize, I am still learning American Sign Language. My name is Mary Gladstone and I recently graduated from Western Michigan University. I grew up in the United Methodist Church. My Dad is a pastor, my mom is a pastor and my brother is a pastor. I do not want to be a pastor.
I want to share with you how I became a missionary. I realize God has been leading me towards your incredible church for many years. When I was a sophomore in high school I attended a faith retreat called a Chrysalis Walk. During the weekend I heard testaments about spirituality, I sang Lord I Lift Your Name On High and Shout To the Lord with my friends, and I spent many hours in quiet reflection—which is hard for me because I love to talk—I was young and I was beginning to see my faith journey in a new light.

My pastor, Caroline Hart shared with the group her personal story of being called into the ministry. She told us about how she did not know what the lord was calling her to do with her life so she decided to open her bible to a random page and see what scripture god would point out to her. Mommy Hart—the name she was given by the youth group—saw a passage of the lord telling her to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. I was astounded by this. I thought, why the heck didn’t I think of that before?

That evening during a silent evening of prayer in a candle lit sanctuary I prayed this prayer. “Dear Father…” This was before I learned to not limit god by placing the lord almighty into human gender specific roles. “…Please help me. I am a poor young girl and I have no direction in my life. I need to know the rest of my life plan right now. Please dear lord show me your plan for my life and I will give my whole self to you.” Then I began to play what I now refer to as Bible Magic Eight Ball. I dropped my pew bible open scrunched my eyes closed and jabbed my finger into the middle of the page.

That bible had one thousand six hundred and sixty three pages from Genesis chapter one “In the beginning God created the heaven and earth.” All the way until Revelation chapter 22 verse 21 “The grace of our lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen”. I managed to open to the page in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, the only entirely blank page in the middle of the bible.

Four Years later while sitting through an outdoor worship service at my campus ministry in Kalamazoo I was beginning to feel antsy. The sun was hot, I had recently switched my major for the third time, and I once again wanted to know what I should do with my life. I was reminded of the evening when I was a sophomore and I chuckled to myself. I grabbed the bible that had been placed on my folding chair when I sat down and prayed this prayer “Creator God, Thank you for everything you have given me. I am lost lord. I want to do your will but I do not know how. I don’t want to be a pastor lord; do you want me to be a pastor? I guess I will be a pastor if you want lord. Last time I was too young and I did not need to know where my life was headed yet, but now I am older and mature. I am making my life decisions and I must know what you want from me. Amen”.

Once again I dropped open my bible, scrunched my eyes and pointed at the page and once again I hit the blank page. I was in a different city, a different church, and I had used a different bible.
My favorite bible verse is 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verses 18 “So we fix our eyes on the unseen, for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.” I believe that god has a plan for all of us, no matter where you come from or where you are going. God was calling me through those two games of Bible magic Eight Ball. God was calling me to give up; to stop fixing my eyes on the seen and begin to fix my eyes on the lord. God was crying out to me. “Cut it out dummy! I have a plan for you trust me. Give all things to me.”

I graduated in April with a degree in creative writing and non-profit administration. The February prior to my graduation I applied to become a missionary for the United Methodist Church. The missionary program provided a way for me to work within the church in a role that I felt called to serve in. I found out about your church and I fell in love. I cannot wait to learn from you and be apart of your ministry here I hope that I will become faster signer soon.
While I was writing this sermon my bible fell onto the floor and opened itself to Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, go form your country and your kindred and your fathers house to the land that I will show you.” God answered my prayers and led me here to this church.

God is worth our trust. God knows our hopes, our dreams, our fears and our desires. God will lead us in the right direction as long as we are willing to let go of our need to be in control and give all that we have to the lord.