That is a phase shift (a phase change is a chemistry term, meaning a change in physical state like ice melting) you are trying to learn about. Our Ebook has material that talks about these phase shifts. Start reading here - http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_3/index.html
In a pure resitance the voltage and current are in phase.
If you apply a voltage to a capacitor through a resistor then max ccurrent flows to start with while the voltage is almost zero. This means the current is leading the voltage. But once the capacitor is charged the voltage is max and the current is zero.
With an inductor the opposite occurrs, the voltage leads the current.