Things Can't Stay the Same

"...every person has to leave, has to change like seasons; they have to or they die...Everybody has to change or they expire." -Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts

Change can be fun, but not when you're perfectly happy in your current situation. Sometimes we choose to change, because we are bored or have been so long in one situation we feel we might "expire." But sometimes change is just thrust upon us, and we have no choice.

College graduation is like that. I loved college. I went back to visit last weekend, and it felt like coming home. I missed those people so much. Why did I ever have to leave?

The beloved fountain at IWU...which of course was taken down this year. Things can't stay the same...

Of course I can't stay in college forever. Just like I couldn't stay in high school forever. And college was so much better than high school, so shouldn't life be so much better than college?

Sometimes, yeah, life is better than college. But sometimes I just got really angry with God for having me leave a situation where I felt comfortable. And I was jealous of all the people who got to stay.

Now of those people who got to stay, some of them were my friends and pastor from my tiny little church, Mt. Etna Wesleyan. The college kids made up about half of the congregation. There were probably between 30-40 people there.

The college kids at church last week, one of their last days at Mt. Etna.

It was a tiny church, but I loved it. And so did everyone who went there. The people were always so excited to come to church every Sunday morning. And I'm so glad I got to visit there last weekend, because next time I come to school, that church won't be there anymore.

The church is too small, they had to close their doors. So here I am, moaning about having to leave college and my life in Indiana behind, while the people in Indiana are facing unwanted changes as well.

Change helps us grow from a flame into a fire.

Things just can't stay the same. That church was a blessing to me and to the pastor while it was there, but God doesn't call us to stay in one place for long. How boring would that be? No, his plan is to call us somewhere new, somewhere uncomfortable, where we are forced to rely on him.

And he will see us through.

 I admire my pastor, who is living on faith now, as he seeks new employment and a new church. But I've realized that he is in God's hands, just as I am. And yeah, we're going to have to go through unwanted change sometimes. And it's not fun, but God will go with us. And God will use these times to strengthen our faith.

Everyone has to go through change. They have to or they expire. But when they do, they grow from a flame into a fire. God moves through change; we just have to trust him.