TRANSITIONS, SOME PLANNED, SOME NOT

Yesterday my kids went back to school after six and half weeks of summer vacation. They are second graders now and more is expected of them. My daughter was anxious to get back to school to see her friends and to learn more things. She is a good student and athlete and is very popular. The transition back to school was easy for her. I was worried about my son though, because he is one of those people who doesn’t do transitions well. He made it very clear in the days leading up to the new school year that he didn’t want to have anything to do with it. He doesn’t like school, unless you count recess and P.E. In the past getting him to school and dropping him off has been a huge undertaking. He doesn’t like waking up, he doesn’t like getting dressed, he doesn’t like walking from the car to the school, he doesn’t like putting his backpack and lunch away, and he really doesn’t like it when I leave him there. After six and half weeks of freedom I was not looking forward to his first day in second grade. On Monday morning when I got him up he threw a fit, he didn’t want to go. I had to threaten to take him to school in his underwear to get him dressed. A threat, by the way, I hope he never calls me on because I think I would be more embarrassed then he would be. He would probably gleefully throw his hand in the air and say, “Look at me, I’m wearing Batman underwear.” Once I finally got him dressed things seem to change. He calmed down and ate breakfast. When we got to the school I anticipated fireworks, but instead he calmly got out the car and walked to his classroom. In the classroom he did all the unloading he had to do and sat down. And that was it. No fireworks, no pleading. Today I took him to school and it was the same thing. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop as they say, but he seems to have made a smooth transition to second grade. Part of that may be that it was a planned transition that we had talked to him about long before it happened.



This past week I had a transition that was not planned. In my desire to connect the congregation to the sermon in as many tangible ways as possible I decided to play Noah. The sermon was about how God talks to us and I thought preaching as if I was Noah would make the message more real. I thought of this about four weeks ago and so I didn’t shave the entire time. My plan was to then dye my beard white and find a white wig for my hair. Unfortunately I discovered that it is almost impossible to find a wig anywhere in July that is inexpensive. My next plan was to just wear a headdress and dye my beard. Darla and I went out about bought a hair product to bleach my beard. What happened next I am still trying to figure out. For some insane reason I decided to go ahead and bleach my hair and beard. Well bleaching my beard turned out impossible because of the fumes, but we went ahead with the hair on top of my head. Darla put all the stuff in and I put the cap on for an hour. When we took the cap off my hair was not white, it was yellow. So the next day I led worship and preached as Noah with Yellow hair. Thankfully the members of Family of Christ have a good sense of humor. The real transition came later on. After worship I went home and I shaved off all my facial hair. I have had a mustache for close to 30 years so it was a big change. I have always worn a mustache because without one even in my mid-thirties I looked like I was seventeen. In other words I have always had facial hair to look older. I then went to the barber and pretty much has them shave my head. After I got home I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and looked at myself. It was shocking to say the least, but in a good way. I looked like I had suddenly become 10 years younger. For someone now in their late forties this was a good thing. The tuff of yellow hair that remained was a little weird but I liked what I saw. Therefore I have decided to keep the look, although I will let the yellow color go. I was so encouraged by the change that I have decided to start working out again, although I will try to avoid buying the sports car and the gold chain. It was an unplanned transition but one I like and think is for the good.



In September Family of Christ is going to go through a transition. We are going to start The Story in both the learning center and the church. The Story is a program that takes you through the Bible in 31 weeks. It covers the main stories of the Bible and reads like a novel. In other words there are no chapters and verses, but it is still the actual NIV text. We will teach it during Sunday worship and also in small groups and in the learning center as part of our regular curriculum. We want to get the parents in our learning center involved as well, doing The Story at home with their children at night. This will be a transition in every part of our ministry. It means a change of material in the learning center, it means a change in the order and presentation of worship on Sunday morning, it means a change in everyone’s devotional life. As with every transition there will be rough spots along the way, but in the end it promises to be a good change for the better.

In life we all face many transitions, school transitions, job transitions, personal transitions and hopefully in some cases transitions in our relationship with God. We invite to you join us in our transition starting September 9th.





Pastor Fred