Changes, they are a comin…

It’s been a long day, so I’ve decided to have dinner at Paradise Bakery & Café here in Clay Terrace. It is always good, has a good staff, and a nice atmosphere. So, since they are paying for my Wi-Fi connection, I figured I’d give them a shout out… now to the post!

Change is a hard thing, especially for a person like me. And the worst part is that change has been my constant companion for the past six months. Let me share with you the changes in my life:

• Left job at Marsh to pursue summer internship at Grace
• Was able to overcome anxiety issues and finally did some traveling this summer
• Grandfather passed away from complications with muscular dystrophy and pneumonia
• Returned to Marsh after internship to a very different work environment
• Was hired back at Grace, my first full-time job
• Returned to school, now going to school full-time and working full-time
• My dog of over 17 years was put to sleep
• Mutually decided to end my relationship with my girlfriend of two years

For a guy that’s not big on change, that has been a lot for me to swallow. There have been triumphs in the past six months and there have been dissappointments. I tend to measure myself in different ways, for example, “once I get married and have a family, things will start to ‘normalize.’” I have come to the realization that God is always working in our lives.

In my Homiletics class today we listened to part of a sermon preached by Jeffery Johnson of Easter Star Church. He used an illustration talking about how he loved it when his mother made cake. He would deliberately hang around the kitchen just so he could get a lick of the leftover batter that his mom left for him. But as good as the batter was, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on cake. So he would wait by the oven, calling his mom over, “momma! The cake is done!” His mom would come over, put a toothpick in the cake and say, “nope, there’s still batter on that toothpick, the cake isn’t done yet.” To which Jeffery would respond, “but it looks done on the outside!”

The point is this, we’re always trying to find a point where we can say “I’ve made it” or “God’s finally done working in me.” But we soon come to realize that we’re not perfect and that God still has to show us that there is still work to be done on the inside.

Change is hard and is something we’re often not prepared for it. How we react to change will affect how we shape our lives. I have a book by Mister Fred Rogers that talks about us as human beings. It says something like this, “you bring everything you were and everything you are to the relationships you have today.”

Before I became a Christian I believed that everything happens for a reason. All these changes in my life? I believe that God will use those experiences (both good and bad) to mold me into the person He wants me to become. I just hope that I can see each change in my life as an opportunity to grow for the better.