I’m guessing that it is almost graduation time for several of you out there in NNPCW. First of all, let me pass on my heartiest congratulations. I still remember that feeling of dazed elation as the president handed me my diploma and said, “Thank you for coming to Whitworth College.” I think I said, “No, thank you,” or “Thanks for having me!” I then wandered off the stage and proceeded to get lost at the back of the Spokane Arena on my way to my seat, a stupid grin on my face the entire time. Enjoy this time—you’ve worked hard for it.

Here’s the downside of graduation, though: you wake up the next morning and realize that you have no clue what’s going to happen next. The sedate predictability of a life ordered by homework, class, eating and sleeping flies out the window, only to be replaced by terrifying uncertainty. If you’re lucky, you have a job to go to. But who knows if you’ll like that job, or how long you’ll stay with it? Or if you’re going to grad school, whether you’ll like that either? And then there are the tangled complexities of relationships changing, starting, and ending. Change frightens the best of us.

Yet in thinking about it, the worst part of change really lies in the fear of it rather than any change itself. We humans are rather resilient creatures. Once we’re in a situation, we tend to survive pretty well. For me, the worst part of any change lies in the anticipation. The fear of unhappiness, the anticipated pain of separation and loss, the uncertainty surrounding the future… I wander through the smoky haze, oblivious to the clear, sunny sky a short distance away.

Scriptures talk a lot about fear, peppering passages with “Do not be afraid” and “Do not worry” all the time. In the New Testament, Jesus often comforts the disciples with the assurance of his continued presence, even after he physically leaves them. For those of you facing the uncertainties of graduation, though, let’s backtrack a bit to the recesses of Sunday School lessons. Remember Jeremiah? When God spoke to him, Jeremiah expressed fear: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy” (Jeremiah 1:6). What did God say, though? “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:8). God goes on to empower Jeremiah to proclaim God’s message to the people of Israel.

In those moments of change, where the future promises only uncertainty, remember Jeremiah and a host of other fearful biblical figures: their times of transition were the starting points for God to do “a new thing” in their lives. Their intense fear, and God’s words of comfort, marks the threshold for a new and empowered mission. In Luke, the angel Gabriel greets Mary by saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). Fear is not only natural, it seems, but also serves as the starting point from which we hear the voice, listen to the call, and act in ways we couldn’t have anticipated before.

So if you’re leaving school now and you’re worried or fearful, rest in the knowledge that all sorts of wonderful possibilities lie in front of you. Seek the path, listen for the call, and know that God is with you to deliver you through the journey.

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.” --John 14:18

Kelsey