Tim 'n Annette Gulick: A Day in Our Life

We woke up early, as we do every morning in Florida, with sunlight flooding our bedroom. It is doubly strong light because the bedroom window faces due east and the rising sun is reflected off the lake and into our 4th story apartment windows.

Afterabowl of cereal we set out on our morning constitutional. My favorite way to start with week in Mexico was with a long run at a large park at the foot of the volcano outside Toluca. My functional equivalent here is a run around Lake Maitland. The family I worked with while Tim was in seminary lived on Lake Maitland. Before we were married Tim lived in a house in the area and our favorite part of town is Winter Park, which borders half the lake. So there are memories and beautiful trees and flowers along the six miles. Yes, six miles. Back in Mexico, my long runs weren't quite that long, but when you're running around a lake there are no shortcuts home, and unlike Mexico there are no taxis to jump in if you decide you'd rather get home sooner than later.

We had just walked back into the house when the phone rang. Chase, our much beloved friend and the owner of the condo where we're staying, said that he had just gotten up but would meet us in 15 minutes at the Enzian Theatre, which happens to be 200 yards away, for the screening of the film of a friend of his at the Florida Film Festival.

Like most areas of the country that have experienced recent growth, Orlando is a world of strip malls and long drives to get anywhere. One of the things we loved about our life in Mexico was living in a community were we could walk to church, to the grocer's, to friends houses, etc. In His amazing goodness, God has given us a world here were we can actually walk to a lot of places like my grandmother's house and Park Avenue with its shops and cultural activities. Last week even we walked to the DMV to get our drivers licenses.

After a quick shower we ran over to the Enzian Theatre, one of those great art house theatres with shocking orange sofas and big purple chairs grouped around little tables. As I sat nestled against Tim in an orange sofa with my feet propped up on the coffee table in front of me watching two well made documentaries exposing us to issues of significance, I was struck by the contrast of our old life and this new place we're in.

In Mexico at 11 AM on a Sunday morning we would have been rushing around getting ready to go to church but not looking forward to what awaited us for the next two hours: long prayers sandwiched between numerous hymns, of which we never understand all the archaic religious words and therefore had an even harder time singing them with conviction, preceding a long, sometimes very long, sermon. After the sermon, when we were rarin' to get out, the service became almost unbearable with interminable announcements, greetings, etc. Every week I would try to keep my rising frustration and antsyness at bay by praying for the people the back of whose heads I was looking at, but church simply was not a high point of my week.

In contrast to the rigid schedule of most churches, Northland offers that American favorite, options. It is important to note that they have eleven services in four locations (all the same service in terms of content) because the building simply isn't big enough to hold everyone, but the end result is that you have a lot of freedom within the parameters of "going to Northland."

As I said, the documentaries we saw covered important issues: care of the developmentally disabled and a "before and after" look at the African American community in St. Augustine, FL where some key moments in the Civil Rights Movement had happened. Northland is in the middle of a Lenten series called "Thy Kingdom Come" in which we're exploring Jesus declaration of his purpose in Luke 4:18 as a purpose statement for us too, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden…" Tim and I have been attending a college/twenty something small group where we dig into what this really means in our world and for each one of us. Both of the films tied into that theme so directly I felt like we were on a sort of Northland extension program.

A common theme in both films was that the government needs to be doing more to help these sectors of Florida society. I kept thinking, "The church, we're the ones who need to be there. We need to see these films, to be exposed to the needs around us and to envelop these people in a community that loves them and walks alongside them." I was keenly aware that most of the people in an art house theatre at 11 AM on a Sunday morning were probably not thinking the same thing. I'm guessing that not many of them are deeply connected to a Christian community or they would have been "in church." And I was grateful that both the philosophy and structure of Northland allow for a more seamless interface between the community of faith and the community at large.

After the films we were standing on the front porch of the theatre under the awning of Spanish moss draped oaks talking when small arms wrapped themselves around my waist in a hug. Annabella, our 7 year old niece, had found us in the group. We introduced my sister Ruth and her family to Chase and his girlfriend then went across the street with Ruth, her husband Eric and their three kids for lunch. After lunch we all went back across the street to our place to play for a few hours.

It was the first time our niece and nephews (Logan, 3, and Nicholas, 1) had visited our "toy drawer." The toys were a hit but of course Tim's skateboard was much more intriguing. Logan was forbidden to stand on the board so he quickly discovered the joys of the "luge" position. Nicholas just liked pushing it into the wall.

After they left we did some final editing on an article a friend of ours is putting together about youth ministry in Mexico. We talked with our brother-in-law George, firming up dates for our part in helping move the triplets from Florida to their home in New Jersey. Then we headed up to Northland for the second Sunday evening service.

Connie Rainwater came in and sat next to us during the service and invited us to have dinner with her and her husband Vernon afterwards. We had a great time talking about life and ministry and future projects over tex-mex food with sweet salsas. (Our friends in Mexico told us that everything in the US tastes very sweet to them, and now we understand. I think there is high-fructose corn syrup in everything!)