Saturday, September 26, 2015

Transition & Transformation

Volume 9 Issue 6

Transition & Transformation

Truth be told, transitions are hard!  New ministry assignment, moving to a new state and a new town is no easy task, but with the Lord, He’s given us the strength and grace to forge ahead.  A lot has transpired in the last two months for our family.

Two weeks after moving to Xenia we got on a plane for our biennial Cru staff conference in Colorado.  We jumped into working the conference; it was a privilege to serve our staff.   
The 4,000+ person conference was epic in that we focused in on togetherness -- what it means to reach the world in light of our ethnic and cultural differences.

At the end of August we were a part of the 21 person Athletes in Action (AIA) Leadership Development and Human Resource (LDHR) team retreat.  (Photo to rt. Is team praying.)  This enabled us to partake in the strategic planning of LDHR -advancing the mission of AIA by creating strategies and infrastructures to engage the millions of followers of Jesus on mission.  Our key strategic objectives: sending, oneness, equipping leaders for multiplication, and staff wellbeing.  Our mission at AIA is to build healthy leaders and sending laborers who build spiritual movements through the platform of sports.
Among other happenings we celebrated Benjamin’s 4th birthday, our 9th wedding anniversary, and the start of a new preschool year and of course settling into our new home!  Huge praise as we found a new church home near Xenia.

We firmly believe this new ministry assignment with AIA as well as the move to Xenia was God ordained.  It doesn’t equate to being easy though. (Leslie likens it to the title of Shelia Walsh’s book: Life is Hard but God is Faithful.) In all of this transition there have been tears, grieving, new experiences and adventures as well as excitement.  (Who knew driving in town without using a GPS for the first time could feel like a great feat.)   This monumental move for our family is a step forward with courage into the land and life God has prepared for us.

Sifting through our experiences, emotions, and truth from the Word, we believe in faith, we are being transformed.  It is not fun and we don’t see the full picture but there is a process that Jesus does speak to in His Word and it’s about HIS Glory not our comfort.   Romans 12:2  says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  2 Corinthians 3:18  “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
If you are willing to share, we’d love to hear how the Lord is transforming you!