As many of you know, I have recently transitioned from the Student Pastor to the Connections Pastor at River Valley. What you probably don’t know, though, is that this move has been 18 months in the making. Through our discussions and determining the best course of action, we decided that to transition well, Ben and I would stay in our roles as Student Pastor and Connections Pastor until the new Student Pastor (Hey Jason!) was hired.

This was a good plan, but no one tells you what the next 18 months is going to look like. Also, no one tells you it’s going to be 18 months…

The natural thing for me was to look to the future. I could start dreaming about where to take Groups and Connections and what they might look like. I love a good challenge, and I wanted to attack it. Seize the Day!!! Right?

But that’s not where I was yet, and if I wasn’t careful, I could let the future excitement of the next challenge hinder the ministry and relationships that I had developed in RV Students.

If you’re anything like me, you long for the next thing. Sometimes, it’s a good longing. I want what God wants, and I know that He is bringing me deeper into His purpose for me. At other times, my motivation isn’t so pure. I long for the next season because of my own need for validation, so that others might see my achievements, or even participating in escapism of leaving the difficulties of the current season (a “Grass is Greener” mentality).

So the question I began asking was “how do I stay faithful in this season while still preparing for the next?” Or in other words, “how do I finish well?”

James 1:2-5 says “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. 

I want that wisdom, but I rarely want the trials. A lot of times, when I think of trials, I think of bad times, but that’s not exactly right. Trials here closely aligns with testing, like time trials at the racetrack. The testing shows what is true about you behind the scenes. And the delay of moving into the next season was testing my character. It made me ask good questions like:

-    Why do I want this?

-    Am I ok with God’s timing instead of my own?

-    Am I willing to trust God with things that I won’t be a part of later?

-    Is something worth starting even if I know I won’t finish it? 

All of these require trusting God in what I can’t see and weighing my own motives. But the reality is that this was the solution to my earlier question: God is preparing you for your next season while you are in your current one. The character that is being proven in you will be vital to where He brings you in the future. Finishing well now prepares you for the future.

So, let me encourage you: trust God where you are right now even if you may not be there forever. Stay faithful in the present, because God will use it to build you character and grow others. If you will focus on what God has called you to in the present, God will allow you to finish well and prepare you for the future at the same time.