Are You Ready for Change?

    As I was taking my daily walk in the woods this morning I came across numerous fallen trees. Evidently the strong wind of the past few days had taken its toll on the trees. I came across a large limb, over 12 inches in diameter that had fallen on my trail. When falling, it also took down multiple other trees in the area, completely blocking my trail. I would have preferred to remove the trees and kept to my original trail but was forced to change the trail’s original path and go around the massive blockage.

   Having to change the path because of the fallen trees started me thinking about changes in our lives. There is an old saying that “change is inevitable”, or in plain English, it is impossible to avoid change. How we deal with these changes is a reflection of our character. Many people do not like change. Some people fight strongly against the changes that come to their lives. Sometimes these changes are for good and at other times the changes are not good.

   In the Bible, Genesis 12 tells us about a man who went through a lot of changes. After living around family and friends in the same area for 75 years, God told Abram to pack up everything and start moving to a location that God would reveal later. Can you imagine the response from Abram’s family, friends, and his wife, when he announced his plans to move? And if that wasn’t enough change, a few years later God told the 100 year old Abram that his 90 year old wife, Sarah, was going to have a child! The Bible says that Sarah laughed at the unbelievable statement! I’m sure that she has a lot of additional comments that the Bible didn’t record!

   I Samuel 16 records the accounts of another person who experienced a lot of changes in their life. David was just a simple sheep herder until the prophet appeared and anointed him to be king over all of Israel. David was not actually crowned to be king until some time later. Can you imagine David going back to sheep herding, knowing that someday he was going to be king over all of Israel? It must have seemed like a dream. More changes came to David’s life a short time later. David slew the giant, Goliath, and was put over all of Israel’s men of war. David went through a lot more changes, even running for his life, before finally being crowned king of Israel.

    The Bible is full of stories of God’s mighty anointed men and the radical changes they experience in their lives. If you are praying for God’s anointing or a great move of God in your life, then be prepare for change. It will come!

Change in Central Texas

     Well, our Texas weather is certainly living up to its reputation! In Texas we say: “if you don’t like the weather just wait a few hours and it will change”! On Monday of this week it was a nice winter day with partly cloudy skies and a high in the mid 50’s. I spent the day at a friend’s house, building on a tree house for his son’s birthday. On Tuesday a new cold front blew in and our high was about 30 degrees and it snowed all day long. I think everybody in town was calling each other talking about the snow! This was the heaviest and longest period of snow that I have ever experience in Texas. The snow flakes were enormous. I was in my office trying to focus on a conference call. I had already warned the others that I may get distracted by watching the falling snow outside my window. My office is on the second floor of our house and I have a bird feeder just outside the window.

There were no birds or wildlife stirring, except for my faithful squirrel that I talked about on my February 9 blog, “Enduring the Rain”. Just as he was eating berries in the rain, he jumped up and started eating the sunflower seeds in my bird feeder. Undeterred by the snow flakes falling on and around him, he fed for some time. He didn’t appeared to be bothered by me snapping a few pictures of him, I guess it was because he had gotten accustomed to my cat jumping up to watch him on numerous occasions. Well, on Wednesday our Texas weather reputation continued. I woke up to clear skies and sun streaming over the horizon and quickly melting the snow from yesterday.

     Changes in our lives are just about as consistent as our changing Texas weather. Sometimes these changes are for good and sometimes they are bad. At times we wonder why the bad things are happening to us, when we are living for God. Matthew 5 tells us that God: “sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust”. God allows certain event in our lives to correct us and make us better. In Hebrews 12, Paul tells us that “for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth”. Proverbs 3 tells us to: “despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his corrections”. Just as good parents correct and discipline their children, so God also does to those who follow him. So be ready for change and consider yourself fortunate to have a God, who knows your future, and who corrects and prepares you for a successful tomorrow!