"Winds of Change"

Wow! I can't believe it's been been ten months since I blogged!

But those ten months have been some of the busiest and best of my life. I have a treasure chest of memories, made in those days just passed. My wife and I have been babysitters to our precious granddaughter, and all those months have been filled with Abbi, Abbi and more Abbi!! I wouldn't trade ANYTHING in this world for those busy days of playing with Abbi, watching her grow and seeing the changes as she has grown from a baby into a little girl. I have had the privilege of playing many characters such as, Robinhood, Little John, even Maid Marion, Pablo & Tyrone (the Backyardigans), and a host of others at her every whim and wish. WHAT FUN!!

She is now just a month away from four years old, and time has brought a change that I dreaded, even though I knew it was coming. Abbi started preschool this school year and now she is away from us for 8-9 hrs. a day and her little voice no longer fills the rooms of our house during the day as it has for the past four years. The "Winds of Change" have blown those days away. And it hurts!! They are now just treasures of gold in the memory vault of our hearts.

As I pondered the changes that have occurred, seemingly without regard for our feelings, I remembered another time when the "Winds of Change" blew into our lives. I went hunting through some old articles I had written all those years ago, found what I was looking for and decided to reprint it as my blog for today.

"The Winds of Change"

By Richard Sessions November 28, 1993

A cold November wind blew across the ridges of the Ozarks that early winter morning. It was deer season, and long before daybreak I had left the warmth and shelter of our home in hopes of putting some meat in the freezer for the coming winter.

As dawn was coming on, I chose the shelter of a huge dead fall as my hunting stand. It was a majestic oak, a monarch, that now lay twisted and broken on the ground, brought down by the ever changing winds that blow relentlessly across the ridges.

As I sat, quiet and still, in hopes that a deer would wander into shooting range, my mind began to wander as well. Suddenly, I felt a chill that literally shook me from head to toe. Not a chill caused by the persistent November winds, but from another wind that had recently blown into our lives. It too, blew with undeniable force. It was the dreaded "Winds of Change!"

God has richly blessed our home and our lives. He has given us a place in the ministry, and we have been privileged to pastor churches and spend several years in evangelistic work. Our daughter, Christie, had received her education on the road through "home schooling" since the second grade, so that we could travel as a family and minister as a family as well. We loved to travel and share the good news of the love of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Being away from our families for a number of years had brought us together in a closeness, that perhaps, not many families are privileged to share. The three of us had learned to rely upon one another for strength and comfort as we weathered the storms of life which we occasionally encountered. We shared the bond, not only of being a family, but being ministers together of God's love. Each of us was an integral part of the ministry.

Christie's last year and a half had been finished in public school and she had graduated Valedictorian of her class. There was great excitement in our home as we looked with pride and thankfulness on our daughter's accomplishments. There was much talk of the scholarship which would help put her through college, and the plans for that were soon complete. She was the first grandchild on either side of our families to go to college. It was a time of great joy!

As I sat in the cold wind that November morning, my mind would not be denied it's journey back to the day a couple of months earlier, when we had moved our daughter into the residence hall at the University of Central Arkansas.

After moving all her things into her dorm room, we were sitting on the couch in the lobby, feeling the ever increasing force of the wind of change that would separate us in just a few more moments.Our daughter sat beside me with her head on my shoulder and I could feel her trembling as the tears flowed at the reality that the time for parting had come. Suddenly to me, the very thought of finding joy in this event seemed totally absurd. All the excitement of the thought of a new phase of life was lost in the stark reality of saying "goodbye"! My wife squeezed our daughter's hand and in a language only the two of them understood, strength, comfort and courage was conveyed. The close relationship they shared as mother and daughter was standing them in good stead.

Somehow, we got through the "goodbye's" and made our way to the car, leaving our daughter to face this part of her life on her own. Yet all of us knew she was not really alone, because God was her faithful guardian. And on many occasions to come, we would feel God's closeness as her years away from us progressed.

I don't remember much about the drive home. My wife and I were each lost in our own thoughts and memories and so talked very little on the return trip. Most of the time was spent in personal conversation with God as we each sought His comfort. We knew, that He was aware of the feelings of separation we were feeling. After all, He had one day had to leave His Son in a cruel world as well.

It's hard now to sing, without Christie's voice joining in with ours as it had for so many years. The contemporary gospel music she loves so well, no longer filters through the door of her bedroom to fill the house with youthful praise to God. Our mornings are different, for Christie is no longer there to share in the hugs and kisses and the wishing one another the best of God's blessings as we each go our own way for the day. Every aspect of life is different now and what had seemed so permanent a short time ago has fallen prey to the "Winds of Change." we cherish every moment of the weekends she is home. Through the week we glance anxiously at the phone as if doing so will somehow cause it to ring and we'll answer it and hear her sweet voice.

I lean heavily against that huge fallen oak, turn my face to the cold wind and weep! I weep for my precious daughter, because the constant shelter of our home that she has known all her life, is no longer available to her, and I see her as exposed to the elements of the world. She is exposed to the violent "Winds of Change"!

After the flood of tears had subsided, I looked around, and the soft gentle knowledge of God wrapped my spirit in a warm comforting blanket of His presence. I gazed at that huge fallen oak, with it's branches twisted grotesquely, reaching for the sky as if in protest of the brutal winds which had brought it to this end. I suddenly realized, that all the young oaks in that stand of timber had their beginnings in that fallen monarch . For untold years it had sheltered each of them, taking the brunt of the fierce winds which blew across those Ozark Mountains. Now each of them would have to learn how to stand by themselves and face the bitter winds. Every time the wind blows against them, it will cause their roots to seek a better hold in the soil and amongst the rocks beneath them.

Though it has only been a short time since the constant shelter of the home has been removed from our daughters life, I have witnessed a marvelous strength and confidence and maturity grow in her. Though she is no longer sheltered by our home, she is still sheltered by the God of this universe. He is the one who sees every wind that blows and can send peace and provide safety in the midst of every storm.

Thank you, God, for allowing us the privilege of sheltering our daughter for a time, until she was rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ, The Rock, before the "Winds of Change" began to blow!