Beginning the Journey

I set up this blog site almost a year ago. How many posts have I done? One that I just deleted because I have changed the purpose of this blog. I am re-creating this blog to share with you my adventure of journeying with Jesus. You will read of my struggles, my joys, and my passions. I hope that they will encourage you along your journey or challenge you to start a journey with Christ yourself.

I just returned from Snowbound, our middle school winter retreat. I have been very actively involved in putting it on for the past four years. It is something that I love doing...creating an environment where student's lives are changed. I realized this weekend how hard it is to go through change. My life may rapidly change in the coming weeks, and my participation in retreats like Snowbound is a sign of that. I was struck with how hard it is to think that I may never be at Frontier Ranch again. That I may not have the relationships with other youth leaders, students, speakers or musicians in the near future. It was a hard realization!

But I also remember that the journey with Christ IS hard. We had a great speaker who spoke directly to me. He listed out what a journey with Jesus entails. It means that I need to let go control, I need to not try to know everything and know that unexpected things will happen. It can and will be hard, but it will also be fun, exciting and challenging. Through it all, Jesus will be with me. Is any of this really new to me? No, but I needed the reminder. And it came at just the right time.

Over the past four years, I have been in a job that has been very challenging for me...from the very beginning. Challenging spiritually, emotionally, mentally, relationally, to the point where I questioned whether or not I should still be there. I recently heard an illustration of life. A moth creates it's cocoon of silk. It is a very sturdy cocoon. When the moth has finished it's metamorphosis, a little hole forms at the top. A human can come and help by opening the cocoon, but if that happens, the moth will not be strong enough to live. The struggle of escaping the cocoon makes it stronger. What a parallel to life...my life in particular! The struggles I face have and will continue to make me stronger. It is all part of the journey I am on with Christ. I know that the experiences I have had will be helpful in the coming days.

I hope that you'll join me as I continue on this journey. I will be sharing some exciting news soon, and hope that you'll be excited with me. Until the next post, I pray that you'll be thinking about your own journey and the struggles that you have that are making you stronger as you continue walking with Christ.