Inflection Point

When we moved to the tri-cities almost 20 years ago, we heard a number of people say something that just didn’t make sense: “Once Coast Guard Festival is done, the summer is over.”  What?!  It’s barely August and the summer’s over?  Strictly speaking, summer lasts well into September.  How could it be over by the first week of August?  Now that I’ve raised my kids here, I get it: sports and other school activities ramp up already in early August.  The leisurely days of late June through July are now gone and we need to get our heads back in the game.  The Coast Guard Festival creates an inflection point in our summer.  It’s conclusion is a harbinger of the coming school year.

Life is filled with inflection points.  Some of them are joyous celebrations like a wedding or a graduation or a Coast Guard festival.  Others are painful like a funeral or a job loss or a health condition.  But every inflection point is guided by God towards our growth in becoming more like Jesus.  Whatever joy or challenge you are walking through right now, God can and will use it as an inflection point toward spiritual maturity, and ultimately joy.  As the Scripture says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”