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02 August, 2013

Change of position . . . .

“It was great once I figured out how to function in my change of position. Changing from being the player to being the coach took a little while.” That was our son’s response to our question about the first day of his helping out in a local basketball camp here in Kampala.  And his response of yesterday still has us thinking. 

“Change of position.”  This happens all throughout our seasons of life.  We change so much! From child to parent. From student to teacher. From passenger to driver. From player to coach. From cared for to caregiver. From employee to employer. Change happens.  And yes, it can be great once we figure out how to function in our change of position.

We all realized our change of position during our recent time in Kenya. It was great to visit places we frequented when we lived there. It was a delight to be with our loved ones again. We relished the experiences. And we became acutely aware of change . We had to learn to function in our change of position. (To see photos of our time in Kenya look on the sidebar of this page.)

The same is true in our spiritual lives. As we spend more time in God’s word and lean more into our lives with God we hear His invitation to change our position.  In the book, “SoulShift, the measure of a life transformed,”  by Steve DeNeff and David Drury (2011) we learned more of God’s invitation to our change of position. God invites us to make these shifts: from me to you, from slave to child, from seen to unseen, from consumer to steward, from ask to listen, from sheep to shepherd and from me to we focus. These changes of position lead us deeper in our walk with God as we allow His Holy Spirit to transform us into alignment with Himself. (click here for more SoulShift resources.)  And yes, it is great when we learn how to function like Him in our change of position.

Change happens. Having Chris (our son) with us for a few weeks is a constant revelation that change happens. Observing Chris adjusting to being home as an adult is a vivid picture of this. He is enjoying changing from being passenger to driver here. He is learning at basketball camp a measure of changing from player to coach. He has changed from child to adult and is learning to function in his change of position. (See photos of time with Chris on the sidebar of this page.)

Our prayer is that we might model the way well in learning to function in our change(s) of position. We long for others to see Christ in us. We want to reflect Him accurately as we change from being sheep to being shepherd, from consumer to steward, from asking to listener, etc. God invites us deeper in Him so others can also be connected to Him. He leads us into relationship with others so we can share Him.

May we go deeper in God and let Him transform us, guiding us as we respond to His invitation to change position. Our prayer is, as Chris says, “learning our new position(s) may take a little while, but it is great once we figure out how to function in our change of position.”
 
Christine

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