A Change in Direction

To this point, coming to Arizona has already been a very special gift. I was always wondering before my trip what it would change. I knew I was going to be stretched in several ways right from the beginning. I knew it would be a very different thing being semi-independent with only Melissa to count on (in person anyway). I also knew it would be a lot of change stepping in to a church that is so large.

But those are not the things that have challenged me the most.

The one thing that has been the most incredible and hardest transition has also been a huge lesson in humility. My internship back in PA was a little bit different than most internships. With Matt being called down to Maryland I was given an amount of responsibility that in all honesty I probably wasn't ready for yet. As tough as that was, being thrown in to the fire taught me more than I could have ever learned any other way, and for that I am thankful. I was challenged in speaking and in leading many different activities and groups. The challenge I am faced with here is a little bit of the opposite.

Out here in Arizona I am now given the task of following, the task of listening, the task of giving my hands. In many ways it is pretty similar to my internship at CIY. It's leadership but from the bottom up, servant leadership. I have already felt in my heart the desire to speak, to know the answers and to lead. I hope that God continues to soften me and to smack me when I feel like deserve more than nothing.

Jesus was an incredible leader and obviously spoke to the masses. We forget sometimes that the strongest moment in Jesus leadership was when he got on his knees and taught to wash feet.

¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. ¹³"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. - John 13:12-17