Last week I had a change in my "life situation,"
of which most of you are probably not aware. After 44 years in ministry I have
"semi" retired. My wife and I are "roughing it", by camping
our way across this great country of ours. But we are "roughing it"
rather smoothly as we are currently traveling back to Ohio in our motor home. I
set here at my computer, in my comfortable living room chair and am writing
this from Holbrook, AZ. We are "roughing it" with about 450 square
feet of living space, a queen size bed, microwave oven, full refrigerator, satellite
television and with a furnace and air conditioning. So as the title says, we are "roughing it,"
but rather smoothly.
We plan on living full time in our motor home when we get
back to Ohio, so that is a change also. We have had some questions as to our
sanity in making this choice, such as, "How can we give up living in a
conventional house?" But as you can see, we have a house, it just has
wheels. Where that house is and what it consists of is really secondary as we
consider what is really important in life.
I know that some folks don't like change. I've met some
folks that fight "tooth and nail" to keep things from changing in
their lives. But life is about changes isn't it? You can fight against it, try
to prevent change in your life, but from the minute we are born we begin to
experience change and changes continue even after our life on earth ends. What
needs to be our focus in life is not preventing change, but preparing for the
ultimate change.
In 1Corinthians 15:50-57 the Apostle Paul
tells us about the ultimate change when he writes: "I
declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I
tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a
flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the
perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and
the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:
"Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is
your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (NIV)
Change
is inevitable, you can't stop it, so it really is best to prepare for it the
best that you can. You can make it though life (and death), roughly, or
smoothly, the choice is up to you.
