Untitled Sermon (30)

Well, I would say there are at least three steps a person needs to take.

Step 1 - Seek out a few trusted and common relationships.

For example, if you’re the new kid in school, the first thing you do is start looking for a group of friends you can relate with. That’s true, right?

So, if you’re into sports, you start hanging out with other kids that play sports. Or if you’re into AG, you start hanging out with AG kids.

If it’s a new job, on your breaks or after work, you start trying to connect with a few co-workers you might have something in common with.

If you’re in a foreign country, you start looking for somebody who can speak English.

And if you’re in prison, you try and find a group of fellow prisoners that will take you in and protect you.

So, that’s the first step. Seek out common relationships.

Step 2 - Establish your place and presence.

How do you do that? You do that by operating in your unique giftings and abilities.

For example, my sophomore year in high school I transferred to a new school. I remember my first day sitting in Geometry class and feeling totally out of place. And then it happened. The teacher asked a question that nobody knew the answer too. However, because math was one of my strongpoints, I knew the answer, and so I cautiously raised my hand. And you would have thought I was Albert Einstein at that point.

Because by the end of the day, people were saying the new kid was some kind of math genius. Which I wasn’t. It was just one of my strong points that I was able to function in. But it became part of my place and presence at Colby High School.

Do you see how that works? The same thing happens in a new job. As you begin to operate in your skills and giftings, people begin to take notice as you establish your place and presence.

Step 3 - Learn how to survive and excel.

Heres’ what I mean by that. Part of adapting to a new environment is learning what it takes to survive in that environment so you can keep moving forward.

So, in our prison example, that would be really important. Because if you want to survive long term in prison, you have to know what it takes to survive. And if you want to know what it takes, I’d encourage you to watch a prison documentary.

The same would be true if you wanted to survive in a non english speaking country. In order to do that, you’d have to do what it takes, which means you’d eventually have to learn the language.