There's a lot happening around our house this week and emotions are mixed. Our son recently accepted a new out-of-province position that's definitely a step up in his career. While we're rejoicing with him and his wife, we're already feeling their absence from our part of the world. Their move impacts a lot of people in this community, but nothing compared to the families of those 150 people who lost their lives in this week's horrific Germanwings Flight 9525 plane crash.
Then there's the loss of jobs associated with the triumphant entry followed by the tail-between-the-legs exit of major retailers to and from the United States. It's left some rejoicing and others lamenting the loss of employment and shopping options.
A drop in oil prices causes stock markets to shudder, while massive layoffs create much head scratching among consumers as to why prices at the gas pump are on the way back up. Those things fall into the category of material and emotional security and they can leave us reeling, knowing that life might never be the same.
Be they personal, regional or global, change is never easy, not even when those changes are for the good. Anxiety, fear of the future and the ever-present rumour mill (that sometimes is not offset by effective communication) make the uncertainty of change even more challenging. Let's face it, the familiar is often more comfortable, even when the familiar is far from perfect.
Former U.S. president John F. Kennedy said this: “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”
How wonderful to know we serve a God who never changes, whose faithfulness ensures we can look to our future and our present with blessed confidence.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." Hebrews 13:8
