This week I was reflecting on the fact that it is impossible to grow and not change. Everything changes when it grows. Communities change with growth, cities change with growth, plants and animals change with growth, families change with growth, even indi-vidual’s change with growth. I’ve been a participating observer in this change with my kids. It’s amazing to sit back and watch as each one of my kids not only grow taller and take on different physical looks but I’ve watched as they have each individually matured to a level that is different than where they were last year.

This year however, it’s amazing how big the change has been. My eldest son, Josh, is driving now. No, he’s not six-teen and he doesn’t have his driver’s license yet but when we’re together in the car he does most of the driving (he has his learners permit). At first this was weird; I automatically made my way to the driver’s side of the car only to have him ask, “Hey dad, can I drive?” Now, after a few months of this I’ve grown accustomed to the passenger side.

Just the other day I was sitting in the passenger side texting all my friends (some of us don’t really grow up) and Josh was driving the family home from the beach. I watched as he made driv-ing decisions and was in awe of how much he had changed. How did we get here? He was just a little kid yesterday playing basketball in the street, now He’s making some of the decisions I make every day. It’s remarkable how things change as you grow.

But this is just a small area where I see change—the most significant and the change that I am most proud of was on display at VBS this year. Both Josh and Jordan (my oldest son and daughter) were too old to be students in our VBS this year, so we asked them if they would like to be helpers. Wow, what an incredible experience that was. I still can’t believe those were my kids that I was working side by side with—they were so responsible and mature. Josh helped Johnny with the VBXer’s and did a wonderful job. He even did some teaching! Jordan helped out with the 2’s and 3’s and was very responsible. Re-sponsible enough that a couple of people asked if she would be interested in doing some babysitting this summer (my daughter a babysitter?—didn’t she just need a babysitter?)

All of my kids are growing up and changing. Conversations at the dinner table are different than they were a year ago—they’re still silly, just now they are silly on a different level. It’s cool to hear them talk and to realize the things that they think about on a daily basis. They are growing up and they are changing.

This is the way God intended it from the beginning. In 1 Samuel we read of an interesting story where the Priest Eli’s two sons were more interested in what they wanted and what they could get out of life as opposed to living for God and accomplishing His purpose. Well this brought sadness to God and He began to groom another to take Eli’s place when He died. The young man’s name was Samuel—Listen to how the Lord describes His maturing process, “And the boy Samuel con-tinued to grow in stature and in fa-vor with the LORD and with men.” 1 Samuel 2:26 Because of Samuel’s willingness to grow in the LORD and make the changes necessary to serve Him, God used Him in a mighty way in Israel’s history.

In this life we have two choices, you can either naturally grow more self cen-tered and live out your selfish desires and selfish ways or you can choose to let God grow you up in Him and make the necessary changes in your life so He can use you in a mighty way in this time in history. It’s impossible to grow and not change. Where you see the changes is where the growth is taking place—is it positive or negative growth?

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