Back to School 
Pause
Change is hard for everyone. Even when it’s obvious that doing something different is the better way to go, we always seem to encounter opposition. Sometimes that resistance comes from others, but often we find it welling up from deep inside ourselves.
God has something new in mind for us, but we have to decide that we are willing to go there. No kicking and screaming!
So get ready for something new. Hopefully, you will recognize its value and receive it—gladly!
Listen
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:10–11
Think
Who’s your favorite singer? Author? Movie star? Athlete? What would you ask them if you could meet them in person? What would you do if you could spend the day with them?
Paul wanted to know what it’s like to know Christ. Not in the hearing-about-Christ kind of way, but to actually live what Christ lived. He wanted the kind of relationship with Christ that is not observed from afar but is experienced personally. Paul wanted to know what the resurrection is like, but he fully understood that the resurrection doesn’t exist without death. You can’t experience beginnings without experiencing endings. But the opposite is also true: We don’t experience endings without also experiencing beginnings. Christ offered us an ultimate example of ending and beginning, but in the daily following of Christ, renewal will come in all shapes and sizes of endings and beginnings.
Ruth Perkins Lee
Pray
Dear God, in the endings, show me the beginnings. In the beginnings, help me let go of the endings. Through it all, open my eyes to the renewal. Amen.
Go
Don’t be afraid.
The newness God is offering you is a
Very good thing!
Open your heart and mind to
The new beginnings God has in store.
Get ready for a change that lasts—forever!
