Don’t you just LOVE Change?
In the summer of 1983, a good friend suggested that I consider coming on the Young Life staff with him in Everett, Wa. At the time, I had a great job, had just bought a house, was volunteering with Young Life and had a great girlfriend and "community" all in Tacoma, WA. I told him, "No thank you, life is pretty good right now."
He managed to convince me, however, to at least come up for a visit just so I could "know what I was saying no to" and so that I could pray about it at least! When I got there, the first place he took me was to the football practice field at Cascade High School. After five minutes watching the players and talking to the head coach (soon to become friend-for-life, Gary Price, Sr.) I KNEW this was where God was leading me!
So, in September of 1983 everything changed for me. I left all that was comfortable and familiar to start a new job with Young Life and spent the next seven years developing the ministry (with my "partner in crime", Ron Robertson) around Snohomish County. And by the way, the girlfriend that I had left in Tacoma soon joined me in Everett as my wife and best friend. God also gave us a great house and a whole new community of wonderful friends.
Change is hard but it's also good.
That fall of 1983 began a 35+ year journey full of up's and down's and many more "defining moment" types of changes - including three amazing (now adult) children, a move to south Tacoma, then later to Gig Harbor, and most notably (as far as the topic of "change" is concerned) when we moved to Lyon, France. I ended my Young Life career with a 3+ year stint starting Young Life College at PLU, UPS, and UWT.
Change is hard but it's also good.
In the early summer of 2019 and I was in another one of those major life changes. “Out of the nest" again. I was launching a brand new ministry called, “Legacy”. However, it felt a bit like how Peter must have felt when he first stepped out of the boat to walk on the water towards Jesus - I was out of the boat, I was fully committed with both feet in (on) the water, my eyes were on Jesus because I knew that if, for a second, I looked around at the circumstances and took my eyes off Jesus, I was going to sink!
So, change is good. No one "likes" change. Change is hard.
Change is scary. But change offers an amazing opportunity to watch God work, to learn to trust Him and to really "walk your talk." What a great place to be in where if this thing "ain't" for real then you’re sunk. However, if God IS in the middle of any change, then, like it was for me in June 2019, I was embarking on the best part of my journey so far.
Stay tuned.
