Transistions

Releasing the familiar and the seemingly secure to embrace something new is a hard task for anyone. Anyone who has had an uncomfortable experience can relate to how I felt when I first moved to Portland. Leaving the Los Angeles area meant leaving everything I knew behind. It meant taking a step of faith into an unknown environment and an unknown culture. As one might assume, I did not at first accept this transition with open arms.

When I left Southern California a year ago, I was just finishing my junior year in high school. I had plans to finish school quickly, go to Pepperdine University, and become an intern with one of the major movie studios in the area. I had friends that I had known for years, and had grown very accustomed to Southern California's stable Mediterranean climate. That would soon change when word came that my father would be transferred to Portland. We had a year's notice to prepare, and on a March morning we boarded a plane to PDX.

I soon observed that Portland was a relatively large city with an impressive urban layout that I hadn't ever seen before. The air quality was amazing and the roads were very clean and well kept. All the buildings were new and modern, and the water actually tasted like water. There were a few things that took getting use to, like the calling of carbonated beverages "pop," and the common usage of phrases like "no worries" and "spendy." The amount of rainfall that Portland gets was also new to me. I soon got used to the differences, and have even caught myself saying "pop" a few times-- in place of "soda."

The first month was an adventure. My family bought a beautiful house in Beaverton, and got to know the area. It was during the second month, however, when I began to understand how much this move had been divinely directed.

From the time we first arrived in Portland to this point, we had been looking for a home church. It had taken the entire first month and the visiting of about thirty different churches before we found the one that stood out. This church seemed to be different, and had a powerful atmosphere. For the first time, I felt an eternal peace that I hadn't really felt since I had moved. I knew right then and there that this was the place that I was supposed to be, and I began to attend regularly.

I remember the first service I went to on the 217 Campus, March of ’06. My sis and I were introduced to Pastor Asim and he invited us to go to GC. I’m not sure why we ended up actually going to Generation Church that first Wednesday. We had been invited to so many youth groups in all of the other churches that we had visited and we never ended up actually going. Something led us to visit GC specifically that first week, and I know it was God. That first night a GC was amazing I got to meet awesome men of God like Chad and Issac Tarter who invited me to join their small group, GMOD. I started going to GMOD and GC every week after that.

In the two years that I have been there, I have met amazing people, and have made irreplaceable friends. At City Bible Church, I have felt myself grow spiritually, and develop an unsatisfiable hunger for God. My way of thinking changed completely into one that cared deeply about my life's purpose. Before CBC and GenChurch I was a Christian, but I had never truly experienced God. GC invoked a passion in me for God like no other; He became so real to me and I couldn’t get enough of Him.

I have seen God do so many amazing things in my life since I've moved to Portland. I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I had not moved. If I had not come, I would not have ever found my home church. I would not have met all of the great people I now know.

Just about everyone has gone through a similar experience. Romans 8:28 says that God makes everything work together for good for those who love Him, and who are called according to his purpose. I want this testimony to encourage you that God will take the transitions for which he has called you, and work them according to his purpose.