In the past I have found the next month can sometimes be a difficult month for some of our apprentices who join our teams in August. The excitement of the new adventure can begin to fade and the desire for depth of relationship increase. Homesickness, readjusting expectations, culture shock, translation and social fatigue can all be struggles some of us wrestle with at a month or two into starting something new.
This week our Pais North Arlington team led our church haverim, (small group, community group, life group or house group). Together we explored John 1 v 1-5 , “In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
It’s a little bit of a mind bender, the Word has always existed, was always with and is in very nature God. I love words, I love the pictures they paint and the stories they tell. But, sadly sometimes there just aren’t quite enough words to adequately help us describe the complexity and infinite nature of God. In the original greek, the word we translate into the Word was Logos, it was used to describe the intrinsic essence holding the universe in order. His Logus/Word, set everything in motion, holds everything together and illuminates every truth in our world.
Last year as the family and I relocated from Northern Ireland to Texas, there were plenty of moments it felt incredibly difficult. Moments we desperately missed family and friends, painful moments we watched our kids struggle, challenging moments we wrestled with changing plans, frustrating moments we simply did not understand new systems, and unsettling moments we struggled with unexpected extra costs. I think almost once a week everything in us wanted to pack back up and take our boys back to the life we knew and loved.
We held our ground, half the time only anchored by His Word. Right before we made the decision to move, we clearly heard His Word. It was this moment I revisited and clung to so many times over the past year. It was that Word that sustained us when circumstances, emotions and struggles rocked us. Psalm 119 v 105 reads; “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path.”
It is The Word that makes all the difference!
Often the best thing we can do when we come alongside family, friends and team members struggling with any of the challenges that come with starting new adventures, is to point them back to Jesus and His Word. It is not an excuse to be uncaring and distant, but it is His Word that makes all the difference!
Long may our world come alive as we encounter His Word.
