"Direction...................."

”What do you do when you see everything is changing around you however, you do not feel a part of what is going on and you began to feel like there is nothing for you to contribute... How do you handle change?... Do you just jump in and participate or do you start making other plans that do not contain anything that is going on around you?”

”I think it is just part of getting old. The world moves on around us and that includes the church. What doesn’t change is the Holy Ghost in me! As long as we maintain relationship with Him, He will work out the details as we go, utilizing us maybe in other ways, but always the source of renewal, refreshing, and purpose in our journey.”

The first paragraph above is a question asked on Facebook by a friend known for many years, living in Pensacola, a long-time member of an assembly there and active in its worship services. The group is in transition, however, following the Spirit in that same stumble down the road familiar to all, faith not always a clear voice from heaven, but a hand held on the other side of the veil. As this old man, in much the same struggle for the last few years, shared with her in the second paragraph, however, this part of our pilgrimage doesn’t mean we no longer have anything to give. It’s a lesson learned through distance covered, my own bunch not dismissing me as it “morphed” into another identity, but me not in sync with the image it became. One deals with guilt, not liking the inner feelings that come from a loss of being joined in various elements of who we are as a body. You question your own positioning in Christ, in some areas your Scriptural view no longer as closely aligned as it once was. For decades this has been your home, your family; and now “roots” are about all that’s left. Yet, even as I told the kids Sunday at the Detention Center, “Neither the church nor the Book is my salvation. They’re good places to go to maintain our salvation; but it is that inner re-connection with Him that keeps us as we go.” From the balcony I now watch from afar, finding such spot not isolated at all from any move of the Spirit and venturing forth on occasion to enter the flow below. Wednesday evening Bible class is a blessing, the teacher encouraging discussion and open to other perspectives. The Holy Ghost proves Himself to me along the way, meeting me in various ways, be it in ministry unto others or a personal encounter found in prayer. Tomorrow is uncertain. He will not fail me…..