good bye uprising.

I never liked change. 

I never enjoyed saying goodbye. 

I never was too happy when my family would move every two years growing up.

I never wanted my favorite show “Friends” to end.

In high school, I was the kid who actually didn’t mind being there. Actually, I loved high school. Not necessarily the “school” aspect, but the people aspect. Every lunch, I’d wander the campus, hanging out with people from various groups and cliques. When it came to the classroom, “class clown” was my middle name. 

Looking back on those years, graduation was a bittersweet moment. Sure, we escaped the the chore of going to school five days a week, but when we escaped, we lost something. We lost a reason to be together. We lost the glue that brought us in the same room five times a week. This very day, three years since I graduated, I have more fingers on my right hand than the amount of people I still talk to from high school on a continuous basis. 

Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t be more stoked that I’m not forced to sit through pointless pep rallies and boring lectures. But, from time-to-time, I do miss the many faces that I would see. 

Change came and changed it all.

Since I graduated, I devoted three years of my life to Uprising. It was a huge part of my life. It occupied (and still does occupy) a huge place in my heart. Many nights I've spent unable to sleep because of how much passion burned inside me for you all. But now, God’s given me a new opportunity.

By God’s relentless grace, I will be starting the middle school ministry at Covenant Grace Church in French Valley. We’re starting from scratch. We’re starting from nothing, hoping to build it into something. THIS will be a huge change for me. I’ve never done something like this before. When I joined Uprising three years ago, the ingredients were already there. The puzzle was already in place. But now, I’m having to gather the ingredients. Scrape around for the puzzle pieces. Figure out what is going to work. 

This is a huge change. 

In this whole transition period of leaving Uprising and starting a new work in French Valley, I also find myself saddened at saying goodbye. I mean it’s Wednesday morning. 11:32am. Sitting in a strarbucks. Typing this blog to you all. Normally, Tyson would be sitting right across from me on his mac. Talking about the night ahead of us at Uprising. Planning songs. Finding pictures for Ty and Ty News. Then we’d head over to Rancho and set up for the night. 

Right now, I’m sitting here. And I’m not sure what I’m going to do tonight yet. Uprising is in a little more than six hours and I won’t be there. It’s weird. Awkward. Strange. Different. 

Again, I’m having trouble with being okay with change.

However, when I was reading the bible this morning, God let me see that change may not be as bad as I think. In fact, God has used change throughout history for His glory and for the good of His people.

In Genesis 12, God commands Abram to leave his home land and go to a foreign country. He left his country, his friends, literally everything. In Genesis 37, Joseph is sold by his eleven brothers as a slave and taken to Egypt, a completely foreign land. In Acts 13, Saul and Barnabas are sent out by the Holy Spirit from their home church.

Why would God want all of this change?

There’s a bigger picture here. In the midst of change that seems like chaos, it seems like God doesn’t know what He’s doing. But He does.

Abram listened to God and went out to that foreign land. He, later, became the father of the great nation of Israel. Joseph lived in Egypt for decades. He became the commander for the Pharaoh in Egypt and, later, saved his entire family’s lives by providing food for them when a seven-year famine struck. Saul and Barnabas go on to plant numerous churches throughout the middle east. Saul’s name is later changed to Paul who wrote a majority of the books in the New Testament scriptures.

You know what’s the coolest change God does? Our hearts! 

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

When we believe in Christ, He promises to give us a new heart with new desires. He transforms us from the inside out. He allows to long for Him rather than things of this world that won’t satisfy our souls. This change in our hearts is incredible!

God uses change for His glory and our good. We can’t always see it, but we can always trust that God knows what He’s doing. 

I do miss some of my old houses that I lived in and the neighbor kids I played with growing up. I miss friends from high school. And I will miss Uprising. 

We have no idea what all of this change will look like, but we do know that God is working for His glory and our good. God will raise up new worship leaders like Andrew and Katie to develop and lead Uprising. He will raise up new teachers like Derrick to share the Word with you. He probably won’t raise up another Ty for “Ty and Ty News,” though! News you can use stays between Tyson and I. Perhaps a reunion somewhere down the line. Who knows? But God will continue to work through Uprising, changing the hearts of His people. 

And God will change me. I’m not sure how, exactly, but I know that He will. 

But in the midst of all this bittersweet change, we can hold to this: 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

I love you, Uprising.

You are in my heart and in my prayers.

Tyler Saldana