My thoughts on transition-david dennehy

Transition  - a passage from one state, stage, subject/person, or place to another:  change. We say change is just part of life’s journey, but, if that’s true why do we let fear and anger get in the way of accepting it? Anger, because we are being forced to change when we flat don’t want to? Fear, because we don’t know when the journey will end and who it will end with? I keep telling myself God will take care of us, He will show us the way if we let Him. Unfortunately we humans have a great tendency to let that “IF” tend to be a sticky wicket! The obvious answer is for us to put fear and anger aside, come together as Saint John’s family and get behind and support our Vestry as they lead us on this journey of change, remembering as we do so that we are and always will be in God’s capable hands. Sunday we took a huge step forward putting fear and anger in the rear view mirror where they belong as we came together at our town hall meeting. I was really encouraged by how comfortable everyone felt being completely open with their ideas and how they felt. The challenge now is to keep that ball rolling forward keeping in mind that our Vestry can’t do it alone. That’s easy to say, but we find ourselves asking the questions, what can I do, what do I know, what experience do I have that can make a difference? As I found myself asking those questions and thinking about the journey ahead and the challenges we face a book I read came to mind, a book that taught me a lot about leadership, teamwork and faith. Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur, the story of how Christ chose and trained the 12 Apostles. The first thing to remember about that story are the words “Ordinary Men” an understatement to say the least, more often referred to as a bunch of ruffians. After Jesus choose those 12 Ordinary Men he had less than 18 months to train them, then Christ is crucified and resurrected, and those ordinary ruffians went out and changed the world. For me that puts everything in perspective, the challenges and journey we face are a cake walk compared to what they faced. Together with our faith in God’s help we can do this.