We are creatures of habit, aren’t we? Think about where you sit in your church service. We sit in the same area most of the time, within a row or two, right? And so does everyone around us. So we sit with pretty much the same people week after week. That can be good and bad. We get to know those around us every week. But we might also miss others in our church family.

The most amazing thing happens when I sit in a different area. It almost feels like a different worship service. It’s the familiar. The worship and the message that I know and love. But I also find myself surrounded with different ones in our community of faith and it feels….a little uncomfortable…but fresh.

It’s good to shake things up a bit sometimes. It’s good to have a different vantage point. It almost awakens our senses to participate from a new place. I love that God is the same yesterday, today and forever…and…yet He chooses to surprise us in new and fresh ways throughout our days. Just when we think He will do something a certain way…He answers our prayer in a unique way we never imagined.

Isaiah 43:19 (CEV) says, “I am creating something new. There it is! Do you see it? I have put roads in deserts, streams in thirsty lands.” Routines can keep us from watching for the new. May we never grow so set in our ways that we miss the new that God is orchestrating around us!