For Pastor Edwin and Rhoda Rideout there’s no place like home even if it means tackling smelly refrigerators and grass grown tall and infested with dandelions. As the fire-scarred city of Fort McMurray slowly springs back to life, home has never felt so intensely happy and sad at the same time.
Sad to see the devastation left by the wildfires that descended on the city on May 2nd. Happy to be back and able to start working on the future.
Welcome Home!
What a welcome! First responders, international firefighters, radio stations, business owners and masses of volunteers did their best to lay out the welcome mat, even if it was a bit charred. 
Thank You From Family Christian Centre
On June 1st, Pastor Edwin and Rhoda Rideout wrote to North Pointe,
“We take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for standing by us during this challenging season. The Family Christian Centre has worked diligently to establish a legacy of ministry within the Wood Buffalo Region. We have two pastors on our team and numerous volunteers who provide leadership to our Care Ministry and our Community Ministry effort.
Your generosity will allow us to continue to provide them the resources needed to touch lives in amazing ways during this season of rebuilding our city. And due to your generosity and the generosity of other like-minded congregations we can accomplish that without having to struggle with mortgage payments on our recently expanded Ministry Centre.
We honestly lack the ability to adequately articulate our deep appreciation for your generosity. We sincerely thank God for family! We pray that God will return to you a hundred-fold personally and corporately for your sacrificial giving and your prayer covering during this season.”
Only Rhoda, who has been through the worst and still going strong, could share the post below without sounding trite.
Fearless Love
The six billboards that lined the highway into Fort McMurray say it all about the way forward:
- “Welcome back.”
- “We are here. We are strong.”
- “Thank you for being resilient.”
- “Together we will rebuild.”
- “Safe. Resilient. Together.”
- “Thank you for staying safe.”
God bless Fort McMurray.
God bless each resident returning to their city.
God bless each first responder who continues to lay their life on the line.
God bless each caregiver, support worker, pastor and counselor.
Its a long road for Fort McMurray but the destination is home and home is where we all want to be.
Related Posts
Welcome Fort McMurray: Alberta Strong
APPLICATION: Please leave a word of encouragement for Pastor Edwin and the church family at Family Christian Centre. Thank you.
I write to inspire people to be real, grow an authentic faith in Jesus, enjoy healthy relationships and discover their life purpose. If this material is helpful to you, please follow me.
- Subscribe. I’ll put helpful content into your email box on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as upcoming events at North Pointe Community Church, Edmonton, Alberta.
- Follow on Twitter. I daily tweet info I think you’ll be interested in.
- Friend on Facebook. If you “like” my page, let me know you found me here.
- Connect on Linkedin. I like this because it reminds me what people think I’m good at.
