Ch-ch-ch-changes

OK, call me strange. But I love change. I not only embrace it as a part of life, I go looking for it. I look for it like a hunter on a safari. When I get close to it, my heartbeat increases, I start to perspire, and get really stoked about "the kill", er, I mean change, that is about to happen.

As a lover of change, it probably comes as no surprise that I get anxious and disturbed when I am around people who have no desire to change. Are you serious? You want things to remain the same? How ludicrous. And then I remember my first line, "I am strange."

Several wise people, who are far more renowned than I, have some poignant thoughts on change. For instance...

The famous thinker, Anonymous, once said, "Change or die!" OK, now that was to the point.

Robert C. Gallagher (never heard of him) shares: "Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine." Wow, that's original.

Some philosopher named Anatoli France (also unknown before now) reflected: "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." Now that's one to get your head around.

But it was Harry Emerson Fosdick (yep, heard of him) who said: "Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it." Harry, you're the man!

Let's be clear, change for change's sake is usually bad news. In other words, wanting to change just because I am uncomfortable or have grown tired with the old, is probably not a wise approach to life. But having this deep sense of desire and a vision for what can be, when you know it is God-breathed, well...that's something special and exciting.

Some people fear change, not because they are narrow or shallow, but because the present, even though it's not all good, is at least known. The future? Well, who knows what's around that next corner?

As I find myself smack-dab (wondering where that expression came from) in the middle of an organization that is trying to get their head and heart around the change that is ahead of us, I pray that I can be a steady, trusted, and prepared agent of change, knowing that God is the real Director of this wonderful symphony called life.

Thanks Mr. Bowie for reminding us, "Ch-ch-ch-changes, this place is strange (earth)." And maybe so am I.