"All Change Please"

So, lots more changes in the life of Rebecca. This is both good and exciting, but is also scary and frustrating.

So due to some financial stuff and some decisions made by me, Uni is not happening this year as planned. Instead, on January 27th I am moving to Australia...yep...crazy and rash as that may seem, yesterday I got my visa and today I booked flights so Im going. Not totally alone as I have a couple of friends in Melbourne (which is where Im going) and a friend that I plan to stay with. However, Im going on an adventure that is just mine and Im gonna be away from all the people I love and sometimes rely on, and I am soooooo excited, and scared LOL.

This Saturday, my good friend Meghan is getting married to my even better friend (!!long standing joke!!) Michael Owen. Megs doesn't cope well with change and by the time she returns not only will I have left (the most traumatic change), but also, Russ, her boss and our director at Alove will have gone on to his new adventure, and she will be Mrs Meghan Owen and will be living with Mr Michael Owen (Who I believe is keeping his name)...all of this change has been alot for poor Megs to cope with and she's been struggling not to be extremely freaked out by it (let it be here noted that she loves Mike very much and is very excited about being his wife...theres just alot of stuff happening at the same time).

So Megs and I have had a fair old few chats about change. I like change more than she does...in fact I have an opposite problem to her...I like change too much and struggle more with things staying the same for too long...that makes me get antsy (or ancy if you're Carrie) and do silly/rash things just to spice things up a little. I suspect neither Meghan or I have the balance quite right to be honest, but I do wish I was a little more stable at times.

However, then Dave shared some thoughts with us in Alove prayers last week about how God wants to see change happen in the world, and how if we're christians we have to want that too. We have to want to see Gods kingdom come, and that means massive change! Dave challenged us to think about what Gods kingdom coming to earth would look like...its a pretty exciting picture.

But that brings me to my next current challenge. ON holiday a few weeks ago, I read Shane Claibournes "Irresistible revolution" for the second, and in some ways the first time. It challenged me more than I could possibly record here, and gave me a tiny glimpse of what Gods Kingdom could look like. Shane has seen Gods heart, Im sure of that, and so he loves people in a way I've never seen in anyone (and I've seen some pretty awesome, loving christians) and he sees how Christians should be bringing about change.

Today is Blog action day, and the theme is Poverty (see www.magicmusings.com for a much better blog than mine). Shane Claibournes challenge is that as Christians we should be eradicating poverty. Not just with campaigns and food parcels, but with life altering generosity and total commitment to the poor. In Shane's words "True generosity is measured not by how much we give away but by how much we have left". He also says "The early christians said that if a child starves while a christian has extra food then the christian is guilty of murder"

Challenging words...especially for someone who just spent the best part of a grand on a plane ticket to Aus. But I am sure that I want to see change, but not just change for change's sake, and not even just change that makes me feel better. I want to see the kind of change that Jesus brings, and I want to find a way to be a part of that