Growing Into New Life

Every year has it’s seasons and everything in life does too. We start out young and highly dependent on our parents for everything. They teach us the basics, how to walk and talk. Before you know it we are in school, mom and dad aren’t around us every moment of every day. It’s other adults that begin to have a part in our lives. We start to choose our own friends and we find social niches. We continue to grow into new seasons, we hit adolescents and a whole new world begins to take shape as we think differently, learn differently, act differently. Again, there is less and less time with our parents and more adults who continue to be a part of what we will become. We get active in sports and arts and all kinds of other things. We enter into high school and yet another season takes place as we find ourselves with more doors open to us then ever before. We learn how to drive and no long are we kept to a schedule that only our parents can accommodate. If we’ve got the wheels then all we need is ourselves. We experiment, we try new things, we have so many more options.


This is the way life goes. One season moves into another. Some are really good, some are really bad, and others just pass us by like we never even realized. This is God’s world for us, we wants us to learn and grow, but he wants us to do it with him.

I know what it’s like to be in high school. Believe it or not, I was there once, and not to long ago! It is so easy to get caught up in who said what about that person, what’s the latest fashion, who’s doing what on Saturday night, and does that guy/girl like me? It seems as though it is so easy to forget about God when you step foot off of church property. I will be the first to admit, when I was in high school, sure I believed in God, but I didn’t understand him. I didn’t read the bible, I didn’t understand what faith really was, I didn’t truly know what it meant to be Lutheran. I really didn’t have a relationship with God. I went to church and youth group, but really only because there were some very pretty girls! That was enough to keep me coming back week after week, plus it was a time when I could get away from my parents and the adults in my life who told me what to do and when to do it all the time. How many of you can relate to this?!

What I didn’t realize at the time was even though I didn’t have a relationship with God, He had one with me. In my escape to youth group each week, this idea was never told to me. Maybe it was because I didn’t listen, maybe it’s because I didn’t want to know that, or maybe it’s because the youth group I was a part of lacked adults who invested time in us to grow us spiritually. Whatever the case, I went through high school and college struggling with my faith. I thought I had to act a certain way, attend church all the time, and read the bible each day. I was constantly going through relationships with friends and family, breaking ties, forgiving, holding grudges, being hurt, and not realizing that through all of that there was someone who loved me know matter what; something called unconditional love.

It wasn’t until a mission trip to Philadelphia with very close friend that I realized that there was nothing I could do to be in a relationship with God. God is relationship with me, with us, no matter what! And it’s not a matter of having to go to church, youth group, read your bible, or pray, we get to do those things because God’s love is so eternal and never ending that through those things and the relationships we build we get to experience this love, grace, and heaven that God has for us. It was in the community that was built in Philadelphia the I grew into new life. A new season started for me that week and I became new again. It was like a baptism for the spirit! I didn’t have to be on that trip as an adult leader, I was blessed to be there, in community with those adults and students because through them and those relationships I saw Jesus and I heard loud and clear, “He loves you!”

So my challenge to you, as we prepare for this summer and all the community that we get to build during this time through retreats, mission trips, and other summer time events, whether you’ve been coming to Solid Rock or St. Stephen or another church regularly or not, what is it that you don’t have to do anymore but what is it that you get to do? How is it that you are growing into new life realizing the relationship God has with you? When will this new season change for you and bring you forth in hope, joy, and peace, that no matter what God loves you? How will it be that you witness God through the community placed before you so that you can grab a hold of this new life and go forth with your flame shinning bright?

May you get these joys in your new life, the new season, that is brought to you through communities of faith, lifting each other up, loving each other, and witnessing God through their relationships! May you grow in this new life, knowing that Jesus is in relationship with no matter what or where you are! God Bless you and Peace!