Sunday night we picked up our baby and brought here home.

Now, before you wonder if we’ve adopted while you weren’t looking, or re-enacted the pattern of Abraham and Sarah, our daughter Michaela is 23, just accepted a new job at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, and is moving home for the foreseeable future. She is in the middle of here latest transition, one which took her from the Dayton, Ohio area to her home circle of acquaintances, with many of her same friends; but practically none of the connections she had come to depend on for so long. And then’ there’s the new job! 

 

It is a brave new world for her. And she is not alone. Cleveland, Ohio is in a transition from a sports’s town that had not won a major sports championship in 50 years to the latest NBA championship- crowned city. Thanks, Lebron. Transitions are everywhere. You may have faced one years ago, recently, or, you may be in the middle of one as we speak. Not to fret.

 

There are plenty of examples, visible in the Scriptures, of those who experienced transitions; in Paul’s case, his eyes were opened to behold a glorious God who would take his murderous past and transform it into a greater glory. In Peter’s case, his life course was altered from a boastful failure to a man riding the cuspid for the evangelization of the gentile world.  And unfortunately, in Judas we see a transition from a man hopeful in God to one rejected, miserable, and hopeless apart from God. 

 

Take heart, As we make our way through the pages of Genesis , we find God, working his people through the biggest transition of all; separating those who cared little for the things of God from those to whom he entrusted his plan of redemption. And to Abram, himself a former  idol worshipper, God appeared and commended to him the fortunes of material and spiritual prosperity. It was required only that Abram trust God, walk with him, and follow his lead. 

 

In truth, the God of the Bible can be trusted with our lives, He is faithful, and mindful of every transition we endure- or by reason of his grace, enjoy.  Now,  that transition is part of the greater sanctification of our lives. Enjoy the ride.