What Now?

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18,19 NIV

           It’s Wednesday morning after Easter and I’m not on deadline. After 32 years of Wednesday mornings, that feels more weird than I can tell you.

          I knew this would happen…eventually. A weekly Christian column in a secular newspaper was too endangered a species to last forever.  Sooner or later, it would be done.

          The rules have changed. Now I’m to write only once a month.

          The ground has shifted under my feet. It feels like God is doing a new thing, but I don’t quite perceive it. Not yet. I’m in transition. Like all folks in this odd place, I wonder:

          What now?
          I’m sure the disciples wondered the same thing in this time after Easter.         
         Though Jesus had tried to warn them, they weren’t prepared for that awe-full week in Jerusalem. If they thought about it ahead of time, they probably imagined Jesus would finally declare Himself as the Messiah they’d waited for, the one who would free Israel from the hated Romans. They would stand with Him then and fight--perhaps even to die. But arrest, trial, crucifixion?
          No! Not that.
          Yet it happened. All their expectations crushed, Jesus’ followers fled Gethsemane like scared rabbits, hiding wherever they could, fearing they were next on the execution list. Peter denied he even knew Jesus. And I’ll bet he wasn’t the only one.
          Then came Sunday, the first breath of hope. Mary claimed to have seen Him; the other women, Peter and John met angels who told them unbelievable news: Jesus had, indeed, risen from the grave.
          The news was almost too good to be true. They were still hiding behind locked doors when Jesus appeared to them all. (See John 20:19)
          There was great joy, but no instruction. As they came together still reeling from the events with its roller coaster of emotions--terror, grief, anger, joy--I’m sure they asked:
          What now?
          The gospels tell different stories about what happened next. Likely, when it was safe, they blended in with the crowds leaving the city and staggered back to Galilee. Some of them probably tried to resume their former lives. Peter and his colleagues even went fishing. (See John 21.)
          It didn’t work. The ground had shifted. God had another plan. He was doing a new thing.
          But they weren’t able to perceive it. Not yet.
          They were only told they would be witnesses. (See Luke 24:48.) How this was to happen, they didn’t know. God would make a way through the uncertainty around them, step by step.
          As He will for me. For I’ve been called as His witness, too. He will reveal how I’m to go on, step by step.
          What I must do now is relax…and trust Him.