Yeah for Change!

 Greetings,


For those of you who have been following my blog for a while will realize that I have changed the template of my blog. What that really means is that it looks different! I like it! Change is good, sometimes! If you are like me there are some things where change is not acceptable. I don't think it's that some people like change or don't like change. I think it has a lot to do with how the change makes us feel.

I am a pastor and so I hope that many of you will understand when I say that change is hard for people. In most churches the "c" word, as we like to call it, can be a deal breaker. I don't know what makes us able to accept change outside of the church but when it comes to even the little things of our church we immediately run from any type of change, oops, I mean the "c" word.

I have come to find out that change in a church has a lot to do with memories. Many people, and understandably, want to reminisce about the "way it used to be". There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think God made us that way. I think when He was deciding how we were to be created He knew that remembering the past could be a positive in our lives. Again, there is nothing wrong with us remembering the past with loving hearts. The problem is that we, sometimes, spend so much of our time remembering the past we don't live in the present. Or, we it's not hat we long for the past it's we just refuse to believe that what ever the change might be could actually be better than what we used to do.

Change is inevitable. We live in a world where things change all the time. I experienced this very thing last week. If you remember reading one of my recent blogs in which I discussed dropping my cell phone in the toilet you will know what I am talking about. If you haven't read that one you should go back and do so. It's always nice to have a good laugh at someone else's expense. Go ahead...it's OK!

I mention that incident only to say that the new phone I got to replace the dead one was sooooo different. It was a touch phone. I soon realized that what it really meant was that it was "don't touch" phone. I found out that just picking the thing up the wrong way could immediately dial the White House, the Kremilin, or the switch board of the missile silos of the Chinese military. I also learned that my phone can take pictures, shoot video, access the internet, and can, if need be, be used as a lantern in a dark and stormy night. Unfortunately, the one thing I couldn't get it do was dial a number!

You see, the technology had "changed". Seemingly overnight technology had not only passed me by I believed that it had lapped me a couple times. I realized that I had become one the people that I have had so many disagreements with, I became an opponent of the “c”" word. So, after going in the bathroom (I wanted to go back to the scene of the accident) I tried to come to grips with the idea of my cell phone changing! It's not that I particularly liked it, it was just that I knew that if I was ever going to be able to call someone on this stupid phone I was going to have to change as well.

You see, on my journey home I have had to deal with change. After my brain surgeries I was not allowed to do some of things I had taken for granted in my life. At times I wasn't allowed to drive. I had to come to grips with the fact that I wasn't allowed on my roof anymore. For those of you who are wondering if I was a frequent visitor to my roof to sit and ponder the universe I, simply, meant that I couldn't change my swamp coolers pads. Now, for those of you who are reading this and living east of the Mississippi, a swamp cooler is a type of air conditioner that is prominent in areas that are not blessed with the hair straightening, shirt soaking, God awful, humidity that some of you experience on a daily basis in the summer. Suffice it to say, I had to embrace change.

After doing so I realized that change wasn't so bad. Heck, there were some changes that were good. The great thing that I realized was that embracing these changes didn't mean that I was saying the way I did things in the past were wrong. It simply meant that I had to do things different if I was going to succeed in living "post brain surgeries".

I want to let you in on a secret! God enjoys change. If this were not true then no one would ever have accepted Christ in their lives. The ability to recognize that our lives are empty without God cause us to embrace change. So, I challenge you to look at your journey home and to see where changes can be made. Remember it doesn't mean that the old way was bad. It simply means that, here in the present, there might be a better way.

You might just find out that, like me, new cell phones aren't our enemy but our friend. You might find out that , like I did, it's ok to call someone on the same phone that you can take pictures with. That is, as soon as I found out how dial my phone! Brothers and sisters don't fear change, embrace it. Make change for the better not change for change sake. Be truthful as you look at your life and then decide where change is needed. If it works don't mess with it. If it's broke figure out how to fix it. Finally, if you do need to change something in your life realize that it's not forgetting the past it's trying to make a better future.

Until we meet again may the peace of God guide you this day and everyday!

Blessings,

Derek