Over these next five weeks, Trinity Voices will features stories shared by our full and part-time staff. Trinity Voices offers an opportunity for members and friends of Trinity to share their joys and challenges of our mutual ministry.
It was just supposed to be a job. Something to hold me over while I reacclimated to returning to Toledo after being away for the better part of a decade. But I was so dearly wrong. Walking through the doors of Trinity for the first time crashed over me like a wave. The building was museum. So many lives had touched that little corner of downtown Toledo. You could see it in the pictures that hung on the walls. You could hear it the music that wafted down the back hallway. You could feel it in the spark that erupted in your chest when you walked into the magnificent sanctuary. I met Lisa and the rest of the staff and immediately knew that this wouldn’t just be a job. Quickly, co-workers became friends and even quicker, family. Soon after, I attended my first worship experience and had never felt so welcomed into a community before. No, this was definitely not just a job.
I learned about our local ministry and community partners. I enjoyed a delicious meal and made new friends at our 9:00 Community Breakfast. I watched a gentleman walk out of Next To New on a cold afternoon with a warm coat and that he had been in such desperate need of. I got sticky making PB&Js on a Friday evening with Food For Thought. And I thought to myself, “how could I ever have thought that this would just be a job?”
Because it isn’t just a job; Trinity is so much more. It’s love and compassion. It’s understanding and patience. It’s friendship and family. It’s service and gratitude. It’s change and growth. It’s a history and it’s also a future. I cannot fully express how grateful I am that my journey led me home to Trinity.