Christ is with us for each step on the journey

T

ransition.

In searching out a definition for this word, I discovered dozens of suitable meanings in the realm of physics, chemistry, literature, and even child birth.

Supporting my wife through the births of our own three children, I have witnessed transition in action and the pain associated with it. Essentially, transition involves movement from one state of being to another.

More recently, our family has experienced a transition of relocation.

Comfortably rooted in Abbotsford for more than fourteen years, while serving a local church as lead pastor, we experienced a divine invitation to “transition.”

This meant having the comfortable roots loosened in order to wholeheartedly serve our new church family in Prince George. All our three teenage children knew was their home, their church family and youth group, their friendships and schools in the Fraser Valley.

My wife and I had deep friendships and a meaningful ministry in our church family.

And then we were invited to “transition,” moving from one state of being to another, leaving some things behind while embracing the unknown that lay ahead, and navigating the often painful process that happens as this movement unfolds.

You may know something of this movement. Perhaps like my family, it has involved a geographical relocation which means an entirely new reality for you. Maybe it is the launch of the last child out of the home toward the anticipated empty nest.

For some, it may be awakening to the new reality of marriage which has added to your life, while for others, death, divorce, or abandonment have amounted to a loss, calling for an adjustment – a transition within you. Through these different transitions that may hold both joy and sorrow, we may wonder, “does anybody care and does anyone understand what I am going through?” The answer is a resounding, yes! As I have reflected on my own reality these past months and now as we enter the season of advent, we remember One who personally experienced a transition of unprecedented proportions. One who left His world of absolute perfection, and who willingly entered our world, replete with its brokenness and pain, for the purpose of showing us how much He loves us. Jesus did not have to leave His heavenly home. He willingly chose to do so. He did not have to experi- ence pain and hardship in its varied forms, but in choosing to leave His world to transition into ours even for a time, Jesus understands what it is like.

One of the names given to Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us!”

So not only does Jesus understand what your transition is like, He is with you in this time.

Yes, even through the transitions I am personally experiencing. But more than that, Jesus desires to walk with you day by day.

I pray that you might experience Jesus’ personal care and love for you throughout this Christmas season and beyond.

Whatever your transition is now, or will be in the future, Jesus is with you in it.