I’m re-reading James Michener’s fabulous historical novel, Chesapeake. In it, Michener gives a fantastic description of the male blue hard-shell crab’s molting process that takes place three times per year. The little guy crawls under a rock and begins to literally ‘rip’ himself loose from his shell, until he wiggles out of it with much pain and utter vulnerability. The shell is his exoskeleton that both protects him and gives form to his little gelatin like body within. The crab then hides himself under the rock for about five hours until a new shell that is larger than the last begins to form. Soon, he scuttles on to daily life with a new, upgraded “house” around him, but here’s the truth, last season’s form that had both protected him and given him the ability to be useful had become his prison and would suffocate him in the next season of life. Change and grow OR die!
The time of change is upon us. I think all of us on the team at PI feel a bit like the little crab. Due to the strangeness and craziness of this season, we feel a great ripping loose from the shell of our past wineskins and methods in order to grow and go further. Nothing is sacred in these days but Jesus Christ, the surety of His Word, and His unshakeable Kingdom. Everything else is negotiable! It seems that the only thing that is certain is that everything is uncertain. There is a major shift happening in heaven that He is attempting to download into His world and we are all in the painful process of letting the old “shell” go, getting into a place of utter vulnerability, and trusting that He will cause a new one to grow.
In this moment of international travel ban, we are producing videos like crazy. We have filmed 80, 25-minute videos which amounts to eight full courses. They are being professionally produced and subtitled or voice overdubbed into many languages. We’ve launched an online school, are learning to train live around the world through online technology, and are in process to publish another book describing life in Jesus’ Kingdom. We’ve been helping feed the neediest of the world through God’s hidden heroes like Arjun Bhandari and others. It seems everything is growing and changing, but . . .
I’m not sure since the opening days of PI that I’ve been so uncomfortable, feeling even a bit lost at times. It’s as if I’m under the rock without my ‘shell’ of doing His ministry the way I’ve done it the last 18 years. Things are shifting. Heaven is moving. It’s time for His children to molt the comfortable and possibly even the fruitful methodology of the past and allow Him to reshape and retool us for the season ahead. It’s time to shift or be left behind!
