"The Deep Breath Before the Plunge"

As many of you have likely noticed, cool temperatures and rain have arrived just in time for the start of the Fall semester of school. I've always loved this time of year; the outdoor energy of summer sunshine is redirected to the activities of the Fall, like planning for the new school year, getting ready for indoor sports, and taking out warmer clothes. Cooler weather drives us indoors more of the time, and that opportunity allows for less running around being busy with either work or holidays, and instead invites more reflection, more thought, and maybe more prayer.

This is my last day on campus before new student orientation on Thursday. In the 2^nd installment of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the Wizard Gandalf is standing with his frightened hobbit friend Pippin before the beginning of a great battle. Gandalf says to Pippin about the quiet before the war breaks out, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge”. And that is certainly where I am situated right now, taking a deep breath before the plunge of thousands of students and the energy of a new semester crashes into the campus in the coming weeks.

I really have little idea of what it will all look like. Of course I have a general sense of direction and purpose on campus, but there are unknown faces, unknown stories, unknown adventures that all await me and which I also know nothing about. It is both thrilling and slightly nerve-racking.

But standing before the possibility of the “new” is the continuing task of the Christian. Who knows how God will show up? We can trust that God will appear in the likeness of Christ through the Holy Spirit, and that gives us a clear guidance of what to watch out for. But at the same time, when Christ was on earth, he unsettled what we think about “God”; so I think we should continue to expect that. Christ doesn't close things down, he opens things up – new possibilities for life, love, and joy.

So it truly is a “deep breath before the plunge” on this cold, rainy day at Kwantlen. And the plunge into God’s future, as usual, is filled with the excitement and thrill of encountering Christ in the unexpected openness of new relationships, new stories, and the “new” in itself. For Christ himself is “the new”.