“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Hello Ignite Family!
I pray that this finds all of you well! It is crazy to believe that only a month and a half ago, I departed Ireland to begin my new chapter in America. I wanted to update you all on how things are going with my re-entry into America, my family, and my next upcoming season! I am glad to be reunited with my family, sharing the incredible stories from the past two years with family and friends, and getting to do things I missed during the last 2 years. However, with this new season also comes the challenges. I miss all of you. I miss walking into UJ with my trusty combination of a hot and fresh americano and cinnamon swirl from Hatch Coffee and seeing all of you, I miss the Quantum kids, I miss the coastline ambiance of Blackrock, watching matches with friends at The Blackrock or The Grange Pub and I even miss taking Dublin Bus to work! Don’t get me wrong, I am blessed with the various reunions with family and friends. Just this past week, I had the blessing of having my brother home from his U.S. Army deployment and sister-in-law with our family for a week after not seeing them in over a year! Meeting with so many people and sharing stories has been a testament to how great the last two years were. I have shared with my family and friends the wonders of spice bags, the hilarity of “Father Ted”, and you guessed it the wonderful game of rugby! However, with that joy comes the lament of missing all of you who loved and cared for me so well. If I were to write out how much of an impact you all had on my life, it would rival “War and Peace” in length. The bittersweet grief of being home and missing Ireland is such an interesting journey that is hard to balance.
I guess that is the way with seasons in life, isn’t it? They come and when they change, we wonder where the time has gone. We say goodbyes, we lament the leaving, but at the same time have an optimism for the future or sometimes have a fear of what comes next, or we can be buried by regrets of things we wish we did differently. This season for me is especially weird, I am back in the community I was raised in, but only for a short time as in late August, I will be moving to start seminary at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. As I have reflected on the last two years, re-entered American culture, preparing for another change. I am reminded that with all the seasons in their changes and shifts, that God is still the sovereign king over it all.
As the seasons change, our emotions go up and down the spectrum, and circumstances play out, God is not in shock of it all.
He knows exactly how everything will play out and how he is going to use it to glorify himself. The book Ecclesiastes in its context is not a very good or happy time, but I love how in chapter 3, God reminds us that everything will pass. We celebrate the times of joy, and lament when sorrow comes and then celebrate when the darkness passes, and we are on the mountain top once again. However, we and our seasons are in the hands of a God who delights in us as sons and daughters and promises to work all things for good. As a song I once heard says, “Though the seasons change, your love remains.” No matter if we are in the valley or on the mountain, God’s love remains steadfast and ever-present. God is the same God in America and Ireland, and his promises remain, and he will keep them. Maybe you are reading this and finding yourself in the middle of a hardship with circumstance, sin, or some other painful thing. Maybe you find yourself entering or coming close to a significant change in season and anxiety and regret spew their lies to you. Let me remind you of part of the quote that Samwise said in my previous blog. “Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer.” or as God’s word says, for everything there is a season. It’s a reminder that God is with us through all the changes, the highs, the lows, you name it, and he is madly in love with you and it’s a reminder to me that there will be days I will see all of you again.