My wife, Laura, and I are in a world of change. We're empty-nesters now. She's wondering what to do with her time. How to be productive and fulfilled. We're ramping up a new chapter of ministry in Elkhart as our new site there will open up in the next couple of months. I'm on the road helping other church leaders and teams with guest services and volunteer best practices (Join me in Louisville next week for Group' LifeServe Confernce). We're in the middle of our AND Confernce right now.
Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not whining. But, it has been an enormous amount of change. I'm finding our Experiencing God series at Granger Community has come at a great time - not only for our people, for our church - but for Laura and me too. God's up to something. In us.
I've been reminded of Paul's journey lately. He was in a world of change, too. I don't know change compared to his story. From the time God knocked him off his donkey and onto his own, he lived in constant change. Painful change.
He wrote Philippians from prison. I wonder how often on lonely prison nights, he thought of the days when he imprisoned Christ-followers. How many times did he feel the fabric of the coats he held so others could stone believers like Stephen... to death. Think about it. What were all those jail stays like for him?
As he first entered the jail compound, I can see him wince as he thinks about being the one who was responsible for the scores of believers who were thrown into a place like this. Then I see an odd smile form across his face, as he reflects on their resolve. Their conviction. Their faith. He hadn’t understood it then. It had only made him more angry. Now, smiling, he felt what they had felt.
He had once looked down on them. Saw them as a threat. A menace. A disruption and distraction from the tradition of what he knew to be as “the faith”. The religious order.
Now, he was grateful to be counted among them. To suffer for Christ as they had done. Even as he faced the probability of death, he squared his bruised shoulders, lifted his throbbing head and … rejoiced. He knew joy. Joy. The kind the brothers at Jerusalem said Jesus had promised. He couldn’t explain it. But he had to write about it. He had to invite his friends in Philipi to experience downward mobility and then know the joy of living – or dying – in Christ.
Quite the attitude Paul carried. An attitude of joy. Joy in suffering. Joy in the not knowing. Joy in the middle of constant change.
I know little of change, really. My friend, Jerry, understands change. He just said good-bye to his wife, Debbie. Bob knows change, his wife, Pam, was just tragically killed a few nights ago. How will either of these men live with that level of change?
I'm gonna be okay. Laura's gonna be okay. There's plenty of change coming in this new season of life. And part of that change will be fresh ways of experiencing God in personal relationship. It will be marked by levels of friendship and partnership in our marriage. We'll enjoy a new phase of connecting with Liv as she soars in her own new chapter. This will be a season of joy.
Thanks, Paul.
