Latitude 30.46, Longitude 87.19

Northern Gulf Coast. Panhandle. Florida. White Sands. Pensacola. Always home, always. It is here that I was born. It is a connection to land and water that will never change. It is in my DNA.

I recently stood on these shores, connecting to all that makes me who I am. It's a good feeling to be "home". Everyone has a "home". It's not always where they were born. Some discover this home late in life. It's that place, I guess, that just makes you feel at peace, connected, well, at home! Home is where you get your strength from, that well deep inside you, blended with however you relate to the Creator, that helps you stay centered and in harmony.

Pensacola is Americas first settlement. Spanish explorers brought their ships into what they called the "best port in the Caribbean", some 450 years ago. They were met by Indians that had been here thousands of years before, the Panzacola Indians. So as we all know Columbus, DeSoto, DeLuna, all those folks didn't really discover anything in the true sense of the word. They just found a land they had never seen. I feel the connection to those before me and honor their part in the shaping of what I see. History in Pensacola as well as other places didn't begin with the written word, so I grew up with only part of the story. In my spirit I want to honor the whole story, from the Creator thru every people that left their mark and raised their families, and turned the soil and watched the sunrise. We are all connected and we are all related, people and land. Mitakuye Oyasin! We are all related!

It is good to connect with home. The parts you like and the parts you don't like, for they both have influence on shaping the way you see the world. I am happy to share my home with my family. For some of my family it will be the home of their heart. They will ingest and breathe it as their forefathers have. They are in the line. They are in the land and the water. I think we should all connect with that place we call home. I hope you will embrace yours, wherever that is. Mine just happens to be at Latitude 30.46, Longitude 87.19

Aloha, GS

SACRED SPACES

What does the term "Sacred Space" mean to you. It surely doesn't have to be only one thing. There are sacred spaces in conversation and in prayer. Sacred Spaces are often in your mind and in your thought process.

When I started thinking about it, my first images were of physical places. Those places that I hold dearest in my memory. Places where life happened, where unexpected and unplanned conversations brought me closer to people. I've had many of those times around a campfire over the last 20 years. I've had them at home on "my" beach. 

There is one place that seems to tug at my heart more than others though. It's a little kitchen at 121 North M St, in Pensacola, FL. My Grandparents kitchen. It was cozy, kind of like a cocoon. It had paneled walls and indoor/outdoor carpet. There was an old radio on the top of the refrigerator that seemed to play nothing but Gospel music from an AM dial. Through its screen door I would smell the scents of the morning time. The smell of the Gulf Coast mixed with the paper mill and fresh cut grass that blended so wonderfully with the smell and sounds of grits, eggs and bacon frying in her old skillet. Many evenings and late night found us in conversations that I still hold close to this day. These were holy moments in Sacred Spaces to me. The memories of many things that can't be recaptured. They are gone now and someone else is making memories in that house that my Grandfather built and cared for, for over 50 years. 

I'm making more memories however with my children, creating more sacred spaces in conversation, in listening, growing with them. The realization and reminders of my own short comings and mistakes cause me to reflect and have moments of understanding. I have created a space at my house that I affectionally refer to as my "Hogan", after Navajo terminology. It is a space that I have already shared some wonderful conversations about journeys and lives and memories. 

I hope we all can continue to see and create these Sacred Spaces in our lives. My wife has created wonderful Sacred Spaces in her gardens, places where she helps bring things to life, where she thinks and lets her soul flourish. They can be anywhere you wish them to be as God is everywhere and in everything. I've included a couple of pics of Sacred Spaces for me over the years, where life has been shared and the spirit of God made me glad to be right in that moment.