Growing Things Change...

Journey...Woo Hoo!!!  Okay so there are only 6 other people in this congregation who will get that so I should elaborate.  This last weekend I got to spend Friday night and Saturday with four of our church's kids at the confirmation retreat at Camp Crestfield.  Along with climbing the rock wall, problem solving obstacles while sleet fell on us, intense games of 6 square and Skits and Smores, somewhere along the line we talked about Statements of faith.  Our leader, Robin, shared that our faith statement is not a one time event but a Journey (Woo...Hoo!!! All the kids were to reply whenever that word was said.) which we begin at birth, through baptism and confirmation and continue throughout our lives.  In fact the way in which I sign these articles, "In Christ and on the Shepherd's Path," implies that kind of a journey.  I am not merely a Christian because I have once confessed Christ as Lord and Savior, but I am one because, having so confessed, I now live daily following Him.  The simple confession I made the moment I first believed is different now, sculpted like Rock exposed to wind and water, because of experience and also by constant and continual exposure to the Word of God. 
Living as a believer exposes you to highs and lows as you battle the consequences of past sins, current struggles and mistakes, wrestle with relationships and learn radical forgiveness.  All the while your faith is shaped into something that begins to look more and more like what God has revealed as true about Himself, you, and the world.
There are even harder times when faith requires radical obedience.  forgiving the person you refuse to forgive.  Doing what you have no desire to do, or even holding on to the tiniest assurance from God's Word that you know to be true so you can trust Him for the other things he promises which you cannot see.
It sounds corny and overdone, like a High School commencement speech, to talk about life or faith as a journey,  yet in Christ, and shaped by His Word, you do see that what we were, we are not any longer... and, what we are now we will not be in the future.
A speaker at a Wee Kirk (Small Church) Conference some years ago said this  Growing things change..Change challenges us...Challenge makes us Grow...Growing things Change...
As change challenges you, my prayer for you is that you will endure the pain of change to see what growth results.
In Christ and On the Shepherd's Path,
Mark

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Rev Mark R. Simonds
Pastor, Oakdale UP Church
"Declaring Teaching and Living God's Word of Grace"
President, West Allegheny Ministerial Association
"Worshiping and Serving One Triune God Together"