Change Part 1 – The Old Is Better

Change 1 – The Old is Better

Reading: Luke 5:36-39 37 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. 38 New wine must be stored in new wineskins. 39 But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is better,’ they say.” (Luke 5:37-39 NLT) I was born on a ranch in eastern Oregon between Heppner and Hardman, in the same bedroom in the same house my Dad was born in 24 years earlier. We didn’t have electricity or running water until 1951 when I was 8 years old, the same year the highway was paved. My Dad flew on a commercial airline once in his life, when he and my Mother visited us in Linstead, St Catherine, Jamaica when he was about 67 years old. I’ve filled up three passports with visa stamps.

I967, the year I was in Vietnam, Jean and I went the entire time without hearing each other’s voices. Everyday we wrote letters which took about 7 days to make it between Cu Chi, Vietnam and Mesa, WA. Now I carry a phone in my pocket that allows me 6 different ways to instantly send and receive information, even out in the desert on my morning walks with Jake the Desert Bone Dog! I’ve seen a lot of change! Like the people Jesus referred to, sometimes I kind of long for the “Good Old Days”. I take a little sip from the cup of reminiscence and I say, “The old was better!” Reality: Yes and no! I’ve already lived eight years longer than my Dad, mostly due to better health care. I can stay in touch now, but sometimes I miss the quiet. I feel like I’m drowning in information and choking on decisions! Do I want to turn back the clock? Not really. Do I want things to go back to being like they were? No. But I could sure use some help in learning how to manage so much change, so much information, so many things coming at me it makes the room spin! Before you go, take a moment to consider: How do you feel about change—macro change and micro change. The change in the world, the changes you’re facing in your life? Are you resisting change, trying to hold back the torrent? Are you denying change, hoping if you ignore it, it’ll go away? Or are you embracing change, learning to adapt? Prayer: Father, Please help us walk the line between appreciating the past and anticipating the future. We need your grace to accept, embrace, and manage the changes in our world and the seasons of our life. May we live gracefully! Amen!