Sunday, April 3, 2011

WINDS OF CHANGE

It is often said of Memphis weather, "If you don't like the weather, just stick around because by tomorrow it will be totally different!"  How true. 

As I sit her at my computer writing, the winds outside are gusting 30-40 mph.  Windows are groaning and walls are creaking.  Tomorrow storms are predicted to blow through and then it will most likely be silent. 

Change is like that.  It blows into our world, often wreaking havoc and leaves things turned upside down in the aftermath.

A friend of mine came home last Thursday to find her husband had suddenly and unexpectedly gone home to be with the Lord.  In one moment she went from being married, to being a widow, from having a mate and best friend of 31 years to being all alone.  Her world has been turned upside down.

We saw the destruction that just a few moments in time brought to Japan a few weeks ago.  One moment people were at their desks, going about their jobs, the next their whole world was shaken, literally.  Then as if to add insult to the injury, the tsunami swept across the countryside, leaving massive destruction in its path.  Not just in terms of buildings, but in terms of lives.  Suddenly entire families were missing.  Children were left at school, waiting for the parents that would never return.  One minute life was normal.   The next they were orphans.  One minute they had a home.  The next they were homeless.  The winds of change.........

All of us have experienced the wind of change....

From being employed to unemployed....

From being a friend to being a foe....

From being happy to being sad....

From being healthy to being very ill or even at death's door....

From being number one seed in a big tournament to being out of the game....

Not all change is bad, however.  There are many changes that affect us in a positive way. 

From being unemployed to gainfully employed....

From being childless to being pregnant....

From being alone to having someone special in your life...

From being under your parents' roof to being on  your own....

From being a nobody to being famous....

From barely making it to being successful....

From being lost and on your way to Hell, to being saved and on your way to Heaven!!!!

From being a little known team to being in the championship game!!

Yes, the winds of change blow through all of our lives.. sometimes for the good and sometimes not.  But through it all one thing remains the same .....JESUS.  He never changes.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I leave you today with this thought... a little poem I copied in my Bible years ago:

"Change and decay all around I see
O thou Who changes not,
Abide with me."