There is a time for Everything

We live in a world that is constantly changing. No matter how much we want to stay in the exact moment we are living in and cherish it forever, we just simply can't do it. And I don't think we were ever intended to try. Jesus throughout his days here was always on the move. He changed where he was going, where he stayed and who he stayed with. He changed peoples' lives in a matter of minutes. He experienced the changes of people coming and going, of loving and losing. Change is a part of life. That's the way God intended it since the beginning.
Ecclesiastes 3 says it well:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die
this past year i have experienced both of these up close and personal, some of them simultaneously.

Reese, Sawyer, Elsa and Addie...beautiful creations i have been blessed to see born and grow each day

Kami, Addie and me

we are not guaranteed 70, 80 or 90 years, we are not even guaranteed tomorrow. makes you stop and think about your life and the path you are on and where is it leading...in some cases, we wish the time of dying wouldn't have come so soon. we think it is unfair and not right, but there are some things that can only happen after death has occurred. Christ conquered death and offers us life that will never perish, but only after he died physically was he able to do so. it wasn't without pain and sorrow, but what waited on the other side was worth it all.
A time to plant and a time to uproot
A time to kill and a time to heal
A time to tear down and a time to build
A time to weep and a time to laugh
A time to mourn and a time to dance
there has been a lot of laughing and dancing going on over the past 5 years. God has blessed me with many opportunities to see people change, to see people far from God take a few steps closer. to work alongside amazing God-loving people and have friends and family that have supported me every step along the way.
there has also been a lot of weeping and mourning over the past 5 years. people come and go from our lives. people we love move on and sometimes it feels like they have left us behind. friends chose fame or glory over a God who loves them and is the only thing we find in this life that is constant and unchanging. we sometimes chose to chase the fading things of this world only to be disappointed. 
People come and people go, through it all, God stays the same, he is with us and that will never change. 
Nate and Erin left today to start the next stage of their lives working at a church in Maryland, Justyn arrives today to start the next stage of his life working here at El Pozo.  

Me and Justyn hangin out last year

You find out a friend dies, but the same day another is being born...We have been praying for Pako for years now. to die to himself so that he may truly find a life worth living. Last night Pako died to himself by confessing Jesus as his Lord and Savior and now can truly start living. we baptized him shortly after. we weep and mourn but we laugh and dance as well. 

There is a time for everything. 

Changes are a part of life. 

God has made everything beautiful in its time.