Fear and Excitement of Something New
As I graduated college in Alabama, I moved to New London, Connecticut, to start a campus ministry at the United States Coast Guard Academy and Connecticut College. I was both afraid and excited. Moving to a place 1,000 miles from anyone you know can be frightening.
But this was a healthy fear. The tract up I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley kept my eyes wide open. As Dr. Seuss said, “It’s opener there in the wide open air.” I was on my way!
Doing something new takes great courage. This website Bow Tie Youth Ministry is a new thing. It’s actually a 3-4-year dream coming into reality. It’s exciting and scary all at the same time – just like moving to New London was. What I have realized is doing something new is not easy. Several factors go into embarking on a new direction: openness, determination, and trust.
Openness – to be open means we realize there are more options available or that a change needs to be made or both. We have to look and hear for more possibilities that may surface.
Graduating college is a natural point in life to be open to new possibilities. Other points on the life curve may bring the realization that we are stuck in our methods of doing things. A fresh start or direction may be needed. We have to be open to a new place or new way of thing things.
Determination – we must be determined to carry through on a new direction. It’s easy to get to a new place and simply never unpack our bags before we go back to the way things were. How many vision implementations have we been a part of that never did anything but collect dust? How many resolutions are forgotten about within days or even hours? Many of us quickly stop doing a new thing because we get overwhelmed or frustrated that the process is not easy.
Determination requires effort, hard decisions, and the ability to look at the big picture for the long haul. The phrase often used is that we are running marathons and not sprints.
Trust – to experience the reward of something new, we must trust the process and trust the One who called us to the new thing.
First, trust the process. This step is much easier said than done. To use implementing a theme for your ministry, it will be easy to only think this gives you good artwork for a year or a season. You are encouraged to go further in thinking of the benefit of having everything through your ministry year connected to this theme. Take the “All Things New” theme package for example, how can we intentionally connect Jesus’ resurrection and promise of new life to studies and retreats? We think of Jacob’s dreams and family saga to see how he experienced newness through a limp. We see newness in discussing how God’s creative voice spoke creation (and still speaks creating into existence). We grasp the power of new life through Jesus’ resurrection available to us now. We are challenged to be ambassadors for this newness of life to our friends and classmates.
Second, we can trust the God who calls us to this new place or new direction will be with us always. Jesus’ words to the disciples at the end of Matthew are for us – “I will be with you until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Does mean the process is easy? NO! This is where the openness, determination, and trust all work hand in hand as we do our best, use the skills given to us, and implement as faithfully as we can.
Back to moving to New London, I was very much afraid moving there. I questioned my ability and whether I could stick it out. One afternoon at sunset I found a spot while exploring the city where I could watch the sunset over the New London Harbor Lighthouse. In that moment, I experienced God’s peace and promise that this new place would work out. That moment was in 1994, but that promise has stuck with me all along the way since then.
What new direction is God calling you?