Due to previously scheduled activities in San Marco, the Market in the Square will return next weekend.  Next week Stanton Drama Club will perform at 10:00 under the gazebo.

The word imagine is a powerful word. It calls us to set aside our present circumstance and picture a reality that might be, but isn’t. We all have imaginations. Sometimes they get us in trouble as we day dream in school or at our office computer. Sometimes they are inspired as in the case of a great artist or song writer. Imaginations can “run wild” and sometimes they just run away, at which point we are left with “no imagination”.  Imaginations can “get the best of us” when we begin to confuse reality with the imagined.  Imagination can end in fear or lead us to disappointment.  Perhaps that is why the older we get the less we live in the world of imagination.

I was recently listening to my daughters play in their room.  It was a transcendent moment as I began to understand that while they were still in the room physically their imaginations had carried them off to some far distant place that had castles and princesses, an evil queen and magic potions.  I wanted to join them, but – no boys allowed! I actually could not have joined them anyway as my age seems to have robbed me of such a powerful imagination.  As a boy I remember the power of being transported through time and space as my friends and I would imagine ourselves as cosmic superheroes, but alas, the boy grew up, the superhero flew away and now I sit at my office computer drained of the transporting power of imagination.

I recently came across a statement by a first century man names Paul , he said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”* Did you catch that?  No one has ever been able to imagine what God has in store for people who love Him.  The interesting thing is that Paul didn’t think this up himself, he was quoting a Jewish prophet who had written these words hundreds of years earlier.  Now two thousand years after Paul quoted that that prophet his statement still holds true. Assemble all of the world’s most creative thinkers, artists, film makers and philosophers, give them unlimited resources and unlimited creative license and they will all come short of what God has planned for people who love Him.

While I do not have the imagination to grasp what God has planned, I know I want in on it. He’s got something planned and I am planning on getting in.  The best thing is “LOVE” seems to be the only requirement. When asked what the most important thing we needed to do to please God, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”**  What I lack in imagination I can make up for in love.

Imagine if people in San Marco and throughout our city began to love God and love each other.  Imagine the changes that would take place as people gave up greed and pride and anger and violence and began to replace them with hope and peace and grace and mercy.  That is the kind of world I want to live in.  That is the kind of city I want to raise my children in.  I cannot even imagine what that would be like … Oh, but wait … apparently no one has!

*1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)
** Matthew 22: 37 & 39

Standing in the Gap,
Gary Lee Webber
Senior Pastor
Southside Baptist Church
www.ssbc.org

San Marco Preservation hosted two fabulous events this weekend–Concert in the Park and Market in the Square.  Pili Pili entertained a huge crowd at Fletcher Park on Friday night.  For those who didn’t stay up too late enjoying the music, mingled with neighbors at Balis Park Saturday morning. The second weekend for the Market welcomed a few new vendors. Kathy Mease of K.M. Mease Landscape Design, Inc.  showcased her talents and beautiful array of plants as she demonstrated the “how to’s” of container gardening.

The next Market in the Square is scheduled for Saturday, October 17th from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM.  Come enjoy fresh produce, delicious  baked goods, beautiful plants and much more.  Participating vendors include:

• Boylan’s Sodas
• Cross Creek Honey Company
• Dips to Go
• Floral Inspirations
• Green Schemes
• Go Green Fresh Produce
• Jacksonville Art League
• Jaxma Orchids
• Magnolia Farms
• Maria’s Bakery
• K.M. Mease Landscape Design
• Reed’s Citrus

Check out week photos in the gallery.

San Marco Church Hosts ‘Family Friendly’ Pre-Halloween Treat

No ghouls, ghosts or goblins will be allowed in the audience while Arthur Atsma performs dazzling slight of hand tricks, fire eating feats and all kinds of magical, musical entertainment on October 24 & 25 at the Theatre Jacksonville in San Marco at 7pm. Hosted by Southside Baptist Church, the community is invited to join in the fun.

“It is exciting for us invite the community to see this award-winning entertainer,” Pastor Gary Webber said. “Whether you’re nine-years-old or ninety, everyone will enjoy Arthur Atsma’s fast paced slight of hand and clean comedy.”

Entertaining audiences across America since 1985, Atsma has served on the staff at Silverton Hospital in Oregon as the “Laughter Magic Therapist” who with his magic and comedy helped patients cope with trauma, pain and suffering. He also has performed for several years at The Beaver Creek Children’s Theatre in Vail, Colo. With hundreds of performances each year, he won the J.C. Doty Stage Competition in 2007 and Atlanta Close-Up Magician Award in 2006. Atsma has performed in schools and at corporate settings as an educator and motivational speaker, according to his website at www.atsmagic.com.

Tickets can be purchased for $5 per person at Southside Baptist Church at 1435 Atlantic Blvd. from Monday-Thursday 9am-4pm or the evenings of the performances at the Theatre Jacksonville located at 2032 San Marco Blvd.

For more information visit www.ssbc.org or call the church office Monday-Thursday from 9am-5pm at 904-396-6633.