Catalyst and My Ironic Resistance to Change

Catalyst...

That's a strange word, isn't it? It just looks funny to me. I'm not a fan of words that "look funny." It's this strange obsessive-compulsive thing I have going on with some (not all) things. One of those hang-ups is with words...they have to "look right." It makes me physically uncomfortable to look at strange-looking words. Weird, I know, but it's one of the many "oddities" I possess. Even with this silly hang-up, this is the very word that God has been speaking to me over the past couple of weeks, and I'm really beginning to like it.

Here are the definitions I found for the funny-looking word "catalyst":

1. Chemistry. a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected.

2. something that causes activity between two or more persons or forces without itself being affected.

3. a person or thing that causes a reaction and precipitates change.

4. a person whose talk, enthusiasm, or energy causes others to be more friendly, enthusiastic, or energetic. 

Sadly, we have only been fortunate enough to go to the Catalyst East conference in Atlanta back in 2004. This was during the same time that my husband dyed his blonde hair hot pink because our students had won a challenge he posed to them. We enjoyed laughing at all of the strange looks he received during that trip. But I digress...

I was checking out the website again today because we are thinking about going to the Catalyst West conference in Cali. Because God has been speaking this word to me over the past few weeks, I felt prompted to click "What is Catalyst?" on the website. Here's what it said: "Catalyst is here: a conference that inspires next generation church leaders to be agents of change."

WITH THIS ONE FUNNY-LOOKING WORD, THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS BEEN SPEAKING TO ME!!! Through all of my ironic resistance to change, God is calling us to BE the agents of change where he has now placed us! Do I want to be in the new place? I think you already know my answer. Not too thrilled about it. But my husband and I can now impart and implement what we have learned from the awesome place we were in order to be the agents of change where we have now been placed. God's bottom-line desire is for people to know Him. How can they even come close to knowing Him if they view the church as being irrelevant to today's generation and stay away at all costs? 

We still have many questions, but our purpose is now becoming clearer...