Change.

Who moved my cheese?!  Okay, I know we don’t do book referrals at CR…so I’m not referring it, just referencing it!  Who Moved My Cheese is a book about learning to accept change.  It’s been awhile since I have read it, but with all of the changes at our Celebrate Recovery program lately I think I need to pick it up again!

Our first change will be happening this week, we'll be moving over to the Summit for the summer months.  It's a change we make to make it easier for the church to host the over abundance of summer weddings. So, watch for that change this week! 

The second change is obviously the upcoming move of The Hobbs Family.  Micah and Tara moving is creating a huge gap!  Travis is the Ministry Director now and will be filling the gap there, but both Micah and Tara were sponsors, small group leaders, step study leaders, and a ton of other things.  It will be a challenge to replace them in all of these areas.  Not to mention maybe the most important….their friendship!

Change is often difficult to deal with.  Satan will use this opportunity to create division, and attack our personal recoveries.  I have already experienced this myself.  However, as I said, Travis is our Ministry Director and is fully capable of tackling the job.  In addition, Angi is our female Ministry leader, working together Travis and Angi compliment each other well.  One is educated and articulate and other is Angi.  I’m kidding! If you’ve ever met Angi you know that’s a joke.  But seriously, they each bring valuable talents to the TEAM.

Speaking of the TEAM, Travis and Angi aren’t alone.  They have Sheldon and Christi as Training coaches, who have an immense amount of knowledge and experience to train.  Nate and Karyn are our talented, creative Assimilation coaches, who are always thinking about ways to promote CR.

And then there is Jen and I, the Encouragement coaches.  Our main job is to sit around and smile while everyone else does the work.  You know, go with what you’re good at!

Aside from the TEAM we have several step study leaders, small group leaders, the dinner team, and several other dedicated volunteers.

Celebrate Recovery at Memorial Road will continue.  Change is scary.  But change can be good too.  The most important piece of the puzzle as we go forward is that each of us is truly working our recovery.  And don’t forget prayer!  Pray for the program, the leaders, and participants.

Use this opportunity to work your own recovery and maybe even step up in volunteer positions or leadership.  Look to see what needs to be done and pitch in!  This is an exciting time and there is a lot of work to do.

There is plenty of opportunity to complain and be negative about change, first when something happens you don’t like or agree with, I encourage you to pray and then bring it to leadership.  None of us is perfect, but if we all work together we can make this a positive experience for everyone!

To show you that change can be okay, Travis has agreed to stop shaving his head so be on the lookout for that!

Grateful believer,

Andrew

Experiencing God.

Experiencing God.  What comes to your mind when you read those words.  I would challenge you to think about this:  there is a world of difference between knowing something to be true in your head (sheer facts) and experiencing the reality of that truth in your life.  As a seven year old I knew about the story of Noah and the ark.  I knew all the flannel graph facts.  I knew the ark was made of cypress wood and was 450 feet long.  I knew Noah was a righteous man and did everything just as God commanded him.  Animals two by two…forty days and forty nights…I knew about the story.  But in the fall of 1986 in Muskogee, OK I distinctly remember connecting the cognitive facts of this story to my heart when I experienced God for the first time.

It was described as a hundred year flood.  The little creek that ran through my neighborhood and directly behind my house slowly rose to the point that it looked like the Arkansas River.  Now, it did not rain for forty days and nights, but to me - as a seven year old – it felt like it.  It was a constant rain – at times torrential down pours – for three days.  The water level rose to the point that most homes on my block were under water and families were evacuating on National Guard rescue boats.  My family’s home sat on the highest elevation point on the street and when the rain stopped the water was ten feet from my front and back door.

To say that I was frightened would be an understatement.  I can remember my mind flipping through scenarios that included our home being swept away by the water; my family drowning in the flood; the National Guard boat not returning to rescue my family.  And then two amazing things happened simultaneously:  1) God spoke to me in my heart through His Holy Spirit, he said, “Do not fear.  I am with you.” 2) the largest, most radiant rainbow I’ve ever seen stretched across the sky.  And it was in that moment in time for me at seven years old that my knowledge about God became real for me.  I was personally experiencing God’s covenant that he made with Noah in Genesis 9.  I was experiencing God’s love and faithfulness firsthand.

                So, when is the last time you have experienced God?  When is the last time something you knew to be true cognitively became a living reality for you and your life?  Perhaps, after a job loss, God provided a source of income or a new job you were not expecting.  Maybe, after the loss of a loved one, he provided new life in the form of a new child, grandchild or new relationships.  For you, maybe God delivered you and redeemed you from a life of addiction.  Whatever that addiction was, Jesus snapped the chains of bondage and you are now free.   Perhaps, you have experienced God through forgiveness via your conversion story, a broken relationship, a survivor of abuse, the target of ridicule, whatever your specific situation, through Jesus you were able to extend or receive forgiveness and now you truly know the gravity of God’s amazing grace. 

                Be thankful for those moments when you have experienced God in a tangible way.  But remember this: the God who loves, lives inside of you in the person, the Holy Spirit.  Find time to be in step with the Spirit and realize that you are experiencing God every moment of every day.

Grateful believer,

Micah