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By Rev Don Rivers
Have you seen signs of the changing season? I saw a robin the other day. In my travels I have seen the trees start to show signs of new growth. Through the south we see the flowers starting to show their colors. There is a change in the air and soon the sound of race engines and the smell of rubber will exclaim, Spring is here! Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I put the shovel away the other day and started tucking away the things I have out during the winter for weather related activities. I may have jumped the gun with the forecast of a winter storm coming. No matter, the weather is changing, the temperatures are rising and soon the tracks in the Northeast will be buzzing.
How do you prepare for the arrival of the racing season? I have seen many racecars over the last few weeks in different stages of completion. Some are just a bare frame with parts sitting all around. Others are further along but need some sheet metal. Still others only need to have the graphics added. Then there are those who are ready to go, car can be rolled in the box and off to the track.
No matter which stage of preparedness you are in, the fact remains the car doesn’t prepare itself. The time and effort to just prepare the car is great but taking the additional time to make the right adjustments will determine your progress. The expertise to set up the car and use that as a baseline to build from is essential. You have to know where you are to determine if the changes were beneficial. Most racers can put the car together but the ones that are prepared have remembered the lessons learned, decided what needed to be changed, made the adjustments and are ready to move forward.
I have heard it said that if you aren’t changing things you are really falling behind. Those of us who start the season where they left off have lost ground. They haven’t kept up and learned. Teams that have taken a look at how the season ended and made adjustments have moved forward.
Life is always changing. Each day presents circumstances that require us to make decisions. Are we prepared to make the choices that move our lives forward? Change is not comfortable and making changes has a risk involved. We seek to be comfortable and secure, but that is an ever changing target. If we are not prepared to make adjustments and change we are doomed to a life that is unsatisfying and unfulfilled. We cannot stay where we are and experience the blessings of God.
I know it is a risk to change. Sometimes you make the wrong decision and have to backtrack. Knowing what doesn’t work is also a way to move forward. Using the excuse that it may not work just keeps us from learning from past changes. I am reminded of the line from the song What Faith Can Do by Kutlass;
“It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try”
I have a picture over my desk at Christian Life Chapel that reads; “We do not know what is possible until we do what is impossible!”
Being prepared to change is a necessity in life, I am reminded of the nation of Israel that rebelled against Moses for leading them into the desert to die. The mountains were around them; the Red Sea was in front of them and Pharaoh’s army was coming from behind them.
Exodus 14:10b-14; NLT; They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
As history goes, Moses, at the direction of God raised his staff, God parted the waters and they walked through on dry land. Pharaoh’s army followed and were swallowed up when God released the waters.
We struggle to move forward, to make changes, to trust God and have faith in His plan. Change means work, it means we cannot stay in our comfort zone. Change means exactly that; we cannot stay the same. We cannot grow, progress, or develop if we do not change.
2 Corinthians 5:17; NLT; This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
There are many Scriptures that encourage us to put the old behind us and focus on the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. That is easy to say sometimes but much harder to put into place. Perseverance and endurance come to mind. To persevere we must endure, that implies discomfort and insecurity. We do well to focus on the goal and not on the circumstances that surround us.
One of the greatest social ills we face today is that we have raised a generation that doesn’t know how to endure and persevere. We have robbed them of the satisfaction and fulfilment of change. You may ask how. We have made it too easy; we have removed too many obstacles; we have eliminated winners and losers. We have robbed them of the struggle.
The consequence of that is in our mind, we wonder where our value comes from. We wonder what we can add to this world. We struggle to find our place. We don’t develop character. We lose hope. The struggle with change is necessary for us to find our place, to find fulfillment.
Romans 5:3-5a; NLT; We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
Change should fill us with Joy and Peace, we should look forward to it with excitement and anticipation, we should welcome the opportunity to improve. The reality is it doesn’t, we have been conditioned to do things the same way we always have. I wonder if we realize that we are driving ourselves nuts?
Hebrews 12:1-2a; NLT; Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus …
Until next time, remember God loves you and Jesus is Lord over Auto Racing! God Bless. Remember, that your prayerful support and donations helps us continue this ministry. Thank You.
