A Life-Changing Experience

Today, my brother comes home from Korea. After two years of working hard to bring souls unto Christ, he's coming home to continue his education, get a job and a girlfriend, and basically start the next phase of his life. I wonder what the first movie he watches after coming home will be. I wonder if he's still going to like the same things he used to like. I wonder how and how much his mission will have changed him. And I now wonder how and how much my mission changed me.

Life changes people. In fact, that's a pretty central and vital part of life. We're put on this Earth, in part, to help us gradually become wiser, stronger, better people. Every experience we have is designed to help us with that goal in some way. Sometimes, we're given challenges to overcome to make us stronger. Sometimes, we're given some of the rewards for righteous behavior or some of the penalties for unrighteous behavior so we'll learn to make better decisions. No matter what life throws at us, God has designed it to change us for the better.

People resist change. I can really only speak for myself, but I think that a lot of people generally don't like it when things have to change. Yet, life is full of life-changing experiences. Ben just had a big one, and I'm sure we've all had several smaller ones back here at home. He is certain to have changed, and we've almost certainly changed a little, too. Hopefully, we've all mostly changed for the better, but it could be said that the family that said "Goodbye" two years ago isn't the same family that'll say "Welcome home" today.

This homecoming is certainly a new beginning for Ben, but it can be a new beginning for all of us. This is a chance for us to more fully become the family we want to be and the people we want to be. This homecoming, along with most things that happen in life, is going to be a life-changing experience. Let's make it a change for the better.