Change

Change. I am convinced that no matter the language, this word strikes fear into the hearts of many across the world. This little monosyllabic word, a mere six letters, sums up the last three months of my life and several months to come. My summer has been nothing short of change-tastic, for lack of a better (or perhaps real) word.

In May, I graduated from Texas Christian University with my MA in art history. Two long and harrowing years of reading and writing concluded in a three-hour ceremony that was blazing hot and left me with a piece of paper saying I know something, a slightly itchy hood, and sweat-soaked clothes. By the beginning of June, I was offered two jobs, one in Texas and one in Arizona. Of course, I chose the latter, which involved leaving everything with which I had become accustomed and moving to what feels like the hottest place on earth.

If you have ever made a major move, regardless of whether it is in-state or across several, you know what a joy it is to pack for weeks, drive for days, stay in hotels, sedate a cat who hates cat carriers and car rides, and then unpack all of the boxes you just packed weeks earlier. Let us not forget that with the start of a new job you are inundated with paperwork: benefits forms, payroll packets, direct deposit agreements, ID badge requests, key request forms, parking permit papers, insurance agreements, and everything else they can possibly think of shoving in front of you and hoping you will sign. Make it your first real job, with all the uncertainties of what is the difference between an EPO and a PPO, whether you want to have one type of retirement fund or another, supplemental life insurance, the $200 walk-for-miles parking permit or the $600 walk-only-a-mile parking permit in 100+ degree heat, and you have me.

That's right, here I am, Lord, in Tempe, Arizona. I'm wading in forms, waiting for my benefits to kick in so I can find new doctors, wondering if I'll ever find a salon that will match up to the one I trusted back in Fort Worth, and curious if I'll find a church home now that I have a regular job that won't schedule me on Sundays. Let's not forget the broken air conditioner at work that took weeks to fix, and the fact that my employer neglected to pay me my first payday. Sigh…

Sometimes I wonder just want did I get myself into. Of course, rewind a year ago and that's how I felt about my Masters program. Why would anyone put themselves through this academic nightmare? Rewind another five years and you have me at orientation at TCU wondering why did I pick this school where you have tornadoes at orientation?

I guess what I'm getting at is that my life has been full of moments of absolute uncertainty brought on by change. So far, by trusting my heart and the Lord, I've come out okay. But of course, isn't that how it's supposed to be? In our times of change, shouldn't we trust in the Lord to see us through it all? Though I am not the theologian like my sister, I can't help but think of Isaiah 26:4: "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal." (NIV) Cliché, yes, but in a time in my life when change is one of the few certainties, it is a happy reminder that I can trust in the Lord, for the Lord is an everlasting rock.