Oh the times they are a’changin’

Life is never dull is it? I can’t imagine doing the same thing, day after day without any variation. Rumor has it that there are actual people who live lives like that, which is sad to me. Life is so rich, full of variety and change. Everyday I wake up, I never know what will happen next. And I think that is a good thing. I thank God that He has given me the ability to be able to accept change – even dramatic ones – and work through them.

One recent change is a big one for us at Voice, but not huge in the overall scheme of life, was the recent announcement that Corey, Meredith & Samii Stark will be taking the next year off from ministry to be together as a family after the words of Moses in Deut. 24:5 – “When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or be given any business or work duties. He gets one year off simply to be at home making his wife happy.” So that is what they will be doing. They plan to go to Kansas City for the next 3 months and spend time at IHOP – being in an environment of prayer, fasting, and teaching. After that, they will see where the Lord directs them. It’s a big change for us as Corey was one of the cornerstones of the leadership team here. I can’t even imagine this place without him, and it is going to be pretty weird for him not to be around. When I first moved here, it was pretty much Corey and I living in this big house and we got the chance to experience some pretty interesting things along the way. Corey has always been an ally – he is the organized one; the one who makes sure things are consistent; done right; done well; the one with the schedule and the ways to take the ethereal vision down to the reality of how to get it done. Dave Carey calls him the tugboat – a steady pulling and pushing as needed – a constant. Corey is an encourager – always with a word for me to keep on when it is hard, or just to say how much he appreciates me. It is those kind of people that keep you going. I will definitely miss him.

Then there is Meredith, his wife. She’s the drama, the cheerleader, the encourager, the positive outlook, the gusher, the one who believes in the best of people and that they really can do it. Ever since I first met her back when things looked so grim and there didn’t seem to be any chance for reconciliation, she always held to this ray of hope – the possibility that maybe somehow things would change and they would one day be one again. She went through alot, and put Corey through alot (and vice versa!), but in the end, God did a wonderful work and changed both of their hearts. I will definitely miss her loud laugh, encouragement, our discussions, and the way she constantly shoves these strange concoctions of carrot juices mixed with agave nectar and brusell sprouts.

Samii I first met in the pool when it was still full of water and not under the Prayer Room floor. I was swimming there and this little girls comes in with her little water wings and gets in. I was like…uhhhhh…. and she said, very matter-of-factly to me, my dad said I could come and swim in here for a little bit. I kept my eye on her and then she asked me to pull her over to the middle of the pool, but NOT the DEEP part. After a while she said she was ready to be taken to the DEEP part. I laughed and did so, all the while wondering who this girl was. Well I found out she was Corey’s daughter, and she has kept me laughing ever since. Many times she will sneak up the back stairs after school and crawl under my desk in order to grab the unsuspecting leg of someone walking by my desk – usually Dave or her dad. She just informed me that she is very good at spelling, and how glad she was that I took such good care of her flying sea monkeys while they were away. She is growing up so fast – I can’t even believe she is 9 already. But I know that God has a tremendous destiny for her life and, together, this family will be running hard after what God has for them.

So things are changing… but it is all for the good. Change is hard sometimes when you don’t understand it, but when you know that God is moving people and shaping people to be conformed to HIS will and to walk in the their destiny, it makes the change much more exciting. Because then you can agree with them and pray for them as they do it – knowing that in the end they will be in the will of God … which is an amazing place to be.