Change

Most people remember where they were on the morning of September 11, 2001. I recall my phone call being interrupted by the sudden news of the incredible accident in New York City. As time unfolded, and a repeat incident occurred on the second tower, the reality of a terrorist attack began to overtake my world. I sensed that the landscape of life in America had been irreversibly altered when I witnessed the collapse of New York’s iconic tower. Within minutes, the monuments of American capitalism were erased on my screen and I questioned how much of the world had instantly changed.

Time has revealed the changes. Immigration has changed. Traveling has changed. Banking has changed. Obtaining a driver license has changed. Our sense of safety has changed. Our world has changed.

Life is different now. At times we make reference to a pre-9/11 world. There are stories that when shared have to be accompanied by the phrase, “that was before 9/11”. Yet, in all of the change, we’ve adapted.

Today the overstayed intruder of COVID-19 lingers with us. Life has changed again. It will take time to fully grasp the full effect of this more than year-and-a-half societal upheaval. We are uncertain of the future. We are uncertain of our being around for that future. And yet, the future will bring change and we will adapt.

The changes of the past cause me to believe that we have not encountered our last major world change. I suspect that the rate of change is picking up. The increasing occurrences of disasters is itself a significant change. Changes disrupt the predictabilities of life. With each major world shift, the future is re-scripted. Every global crises alters possibilities and opportunities. And that scares some of us. What’s next?

We don’t know what will be the next major life disrupter. We would sometimes prefer that things would stay the same. Yet, for people of God proclaiming a message of change, catastrophic events create avenues of sharing the Good News of Christ’s return. Bible believers sense that there will be many more changes to come. There’s one ultimate change that I look forward to. The Apostle Paul shares it as follows:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Change happens. I look forward to this one. How about you?