"Do not be deceived my dear brothers,
every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows."
James 1: 16,17
I sit encompassed by thousands of pounds of aluminum soaring through the air at a lofty 39,000 feet above the ground I walk on. I will soon be sipping on a beverage and enjoying the complimentary 'gourmet' pretzels that come with the flight. It is funny to me that somehow from nearly 40,000 feet off the ground, I am still connected via internet to the bustling pace of the human race that lingers below. In some strange way, I feel important right now. Lap top open, sipping on my bottled water while jetting across the continental US with dozens of other people pecking away on their laptops and scrolling through the screens of their iPods and iPads.
It is funny to me to think back to life just a decade or two ago and think of how vastly different the world is. I remember being a little girl and being completely amazed by the car phone a friend had. It was about the size of a small shoe box, mounted on the floor right between the driver and passenger seats. I remember the curly cord that connected the phone to the base and the funny sound the buttons made when pressed. It was truly amazing. My first cell phone was about that same size. It was impossible to lose it in my purse because it hardly fit in my purse. There was no such thing as a touch screen and if there was, most people couldn't afford them. The ring tones were standard and they couldn't take pictures, type letters or surf the internet. If you wanted to take pictures, you had to remember to bring your camera in addition to your phone. Now we charge our batteries, use memory cards the size of a dime, view our pictures immediately, snap and delete as wanted and even send them electronically within seconds of taking it. I could go on and on. Technology is ever moving and picking up speed in the process. We wait for nothing and we have the world at our fingertips with the click of a mouse.
As I think of how quickly the world is changing around me, I find it impossible to keep up. There are always new products on the market that are safer, 'cleaner', more efficient, faster and healthier. The toys that I played with would never pass safety regulations for my own kids and the toys my kids play with are most likely going to be deemed unsafe, unhealthy and out of fashion my the time they are buying toys for their own children. Nothing ever remains the same. Things are always changing. Relationships change. People change. Jobs change. Technology changes.
As I think about my children and the things I want to teach them, one of the most important is that God never changes. I am not talking about my grandmother's curtains that never changed and were horribly dated but rather a God who Himself is the embodiment of time and all that is eternal. God says it Himself in Malachi 3:6, 'I the Lord do not change'. The God that loved me yesterday loves me today. The God that saved the Israelites from the Egyptians as they crossed the Red Sea saved my soul from the destruction of hell and is still saving souls today. The God that walked the earth and healed the sick, the lame, and the diseased is still healing and restoring. I find complete comfort in this. I am not fashionably savvy or technology literate. I am not a cool person. I don't pack the gadgets or speak the lingo. I don't try to keep up with the changing times, I can't even keep up with laundry! At the end of the day, at the end of the road, as I cross the finish line of this ultimate race, I find complete peace that although I couldn't keep up with the rapidly changing world around me, my God is the Rock of Ages, the Eternal One, The One that doesn't change as quickly as the shadows on the ground I am flying over.
May the God of this Universe who was, and is and is to come, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, keep you, direct you, and minister to you wherever you may be, even if it is 39,000 feet above the ground.
<><tce
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