I believe I’m starting off the new year heading in the right direction. To bring you up to speed, my August routine knee replacement turned into a fiasco. One surgery turned into four, including two rounds of IV antibiotics. I’m still working through the second round. This time, I have not had a problem with a recurring temperature, which is a very good sign. If I’ve been a little groggy when you talked to me, it’s because they overdosed me trying to kill off that nasty little bug. I’m not upset about it because I really needed to rid myself of that very unkind staph infection. But they changed the dose this week, and I am happy to say that today I didn’t sleep half the day away and was able to finish my dinner. It’s funny the things you can learn to appreciate when negative changes come into your life.

Neither Tracie nor I celebrated New Year’s Eve last night. Nor did we get a new gym membership or buy into a new diet. Though both the gym and the diet would have been a positive change in my life. Instead, we went to bed confident that the ball would drop in New York with or without us and the world would complete its final lap around the sun for the calendar year. Like many of you, we have come to expect change to occur each and every year, even daily. After all, the only constant guarantee is change. Some changes we barely notice, and others are life-altering.

Of course, not all change is bad. In fact, change is central to becoming a Christian. And God understands what we need to be followers of Christ. Sometimes it’s fast, sometimes it’s slow, but once we let God into our hearts, change is going to occur for the good of our souls. As change is coming anyway, I believe it is a good thing to have God as a partner and guide in our daily living.

With Jesus in our lives, the changes that life brings create an opportunity to open us to be more teachable in the Lord’s ways. Our hearts and minds are opened up to see and learn ways that transform us by the grace of God. We are not alone. The Lord is active in our lives and has plans for us. Whether we accept those plans is for us to decide.

Even though our humanity may look toward an easier way, it is in God we find and fulfill our calling and become who God has made us to be. Think of the inspiring scripture of Jeremiah 29:11, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” With Jesus, we have been given the hope, faith, love, peace, and power to keep from letting evil times take us away from God and becoming who we are truly made to be.

There are many seasons within one’s life that bring about change. Not the seasons of the calendar, but the events of our lives that shape us and even the people we are close to. For us, it’s all about changing with the seasons for our own good and that of the world. Some seasons are cold like winter and undesirable, while others are refreshing like Spring. Regardless, we are better off having the Lord as our shepherd, our leader, than making our way through life on our own.

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Pastor Rick