In the meantime...

Last weekend we had the joy of attending our son Colton's college graduation. It was joyous for a few reasons. First, he's entering a new phase of life. He's now a man not a college student. Responsible... not cared for (or should I say paid for). Second, he graduated...need I say more?

Although we celebrated his many accomplishments over the past four years, the pictures above truly capture the feel of this new timeframe. The first shows the smiles and romantic notion of a life free from assignments and classwork. The second shows the panic of a timeframe that has yet to be defined.

I've often said "Change is good, it's the transitions that stink!" Change is a given. It's the natural ebb and flow of life. Jobs change, relationships change, homes change, circumstances change; and although we know that change is inevitable, the transitional time that it takes to settle into it is what unnerves us. It's uncomfortable, unpredictable, and sometimes lonely.

I remember when I transferred from Colorado State University to San Diego State my Junior year. I was sick and tired of going to class in snow covered hiking boots and a ski cap, so I explored options that led me to a warmer climate. I didn't care one lick if San Diego had a program for my current major, all I cared about was placing myself in the middle of the brochure pictures that promised days at the beach and a constant flow of sunshine.

When I stepped off the plane in the San Diego airport it dawned on me that I had no more than my apartment complex name written on a scrap of paper in my purse. This was before cell phones, internet, and google; so I climbed into a phonebooth near baggage claim and nervously thumbed through the yellow pages to find my apartment's address. Suitcases and trunks in tow, my cab driver pulled up to the less than lovely apartment complex and promptly dumped all my luggage on a curb as he drove off with the last of my cash.

As I lugged my belongings up three flights of stairs I opened the door to my first apartment. It was then that I realized I would sit in it alone for three days--no electricity, no phone, and no car--until my roommates joined me from their summer residences. I knew this change was going to be good for me, but what I didn't realize was how hard the transition would be.

Maybe you've heard the saying "in the meantime" when referring to the time between one segment of life and the next. I've come to realize that those timeframes can truly be "mean" times, as we struggle to settle into a new direction or phase of our lives. Moving to a new place, starting a new job, entering a new relationship,ending an old one that's run its course, joining a new church, trying something you've longed to do but haven't been able to make happen...all require a transition through the "mean" time to get to the needed change.

  Moses fled Eygpt after he murdered an Eygptian. He lived in the meantime of hills and sheep until he was ready to lead a nation in exodus from the very home he grew up in. The Apostle Paul spent years of ministry in the meantime of prison. If he hadn't been behind bars, much of our New Testament wouldn't have been written. And the Apostle Peter fished in the meantime before he preached.

It takes a brave soul to push through the uncertainity of the meantime, into the confidence of a "new" time. Don't let where you are or what you see now, determine where you'll go or who you'll be in the future. Push through your meantimes. Lay your hopes, dreams, and ambition down before God, and let Him breathe life into them. With God there's no such thing as meantime; only opportune time...and He will show you the difference.

Blessings! Gari