Jill and I had time between Christmas Day and New Year's Day to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary in Lexington, Kentucky. Why Lexington? We lived there from 1981 - 84 while I attended seminary, graduating from Asbury in 84. During our time away we stayed at Rosecrest Farms, just north of Lexington, outside of Paris, Kentucky, so now I can say that my wife and I had dinner in Paris. (I always wanted to say that and now I can.) Rosecrest Farms is just half a mile from Claiborne Farm, where the famous racehorse Secretariat is now resting in peace. While staying at Rosecrest Farms, we had the chance to feed the horse that is the grandson of Secretariat, who is stabled at Rosecrest Farm. It was a great place to stay on vacation.
While we were there, Jill and I visited the many places we knew when we lived in Lexington thirty years ago. My how time changes things. The little shoe store where I worked is now gone. The Lexington Humane Society where Jill worked as the education director and was honored as a Kentucky Colonel for her work there, has undergone such renovation that it doesn't look like the same old place, which is a good thing. The mall where I once worked at McAlpin's Store, before my adventure as a shoe salesman at Jeff's Stride Rite, is now closed and McAlpins Store is no more. One downtown restaurant that we knew while we lived in Lexington closed its doors the weekend we were there, but another had taken its place, only half a block away.
It all goes to say that the only thing we know is constant, is change. The real question is whether the change is for better or worse. What is true of cities is also true of human lives. Life is filled with change. As we start a new year, how will change impact your life? Will the change you experience be better, worse? Many people try to navigate the change in their lives, making the change they want to see happen. This can be done, but with minimum success. The truth about change is that most change comes unexpectedly, but how we see change and the way we deal with change is what makes a change good or bad. When Jesus was born, the wise men were jubilant, but Herod was threatened; and yet for many, the birth of Jesus came and went, without much fanfare.
As you start the New Year of 2014, how has Jesus been born in your heart? Are you threatened by the change his presence could bring to your life, or are you willing to take the journey and follow his light to the places where he leads you, a place where his presence can transform your life, or will you live into this new year as if nothing has changed much since you celebrated the birth of a Savior? How you answer that question will most likely determine how you meet change, for better or worse.
Dennis
