The More Things Change

Change is inevitable. We all change. Everything changes. A French philosopher once said, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Apparently France is different.

I started writing this post over a week ago. At the time, all I had was the title and the paragraph you just read. Sometimes that happens. In fact, right now there are five partially completed posts so do not be surprised if you log on one day and think you are a month behind in your reading. It could happen.

The reason I mention that is that since I started writing this post some significant things have changed and rocked my world a little. Of course I am on top of all that to the point I did not make the connection until about 5:00 AM today. (Yes, I know that last sentence sounds odd to the ear. It is an intentional, rhetorical effect.)

The chaplain at the rescue mission left his job in the middle of the week in something like a mutual decision between him and the director. Maybe I should go back to the weekend before.

Sometimes it is difficult for a dozen, testesterone-laden, self-centered, former drug addicts and alcoholics to live together in close quarters. (Another understatement for affect.) Everyone wants to be the alpha male, or the "cock of the walk" as they say in the fields and farms of the midwest. Anyway a few of the men were having conflicts to the point that one of the staff members called me on Sunday last week to tell me something needed to be done to cool things down or someone was going to get hurt. After some investigation, I decided to let that ride until Monday when we could all sit down together.

We spent about forty five minutes talking around the situation and expressing our denial that anything was really wrong with our relationships. (I am using "our" to relate, but I can sometimes enter into denial when I do not want to deal with an issue too.) I pressed the point that the Central Coast Rescue Mission is a Christian ministry and anyone who did not want to be part of such a ministry should pack up and make a bed available for someone who did. We dismissed without seeming to accomplish much. I later found out the man who had positioned himself as victim had apologized to another man for his attitude. He was shocked when the other man not only accepted his apology, but offered one of his own--and then said he loved him. God does great work even when we do not recognize that anything is happening. The Holy Spirit has to put some roots down into a situation before we see anything happening. Sometimes the deep works are the best.

That was Monday. Tuesday the Thrift Store manager gave her two week notice. Wednesday the chaplain left. I learned to spell "shaking" in second grade. At the time, I did not know something like this fit the definition. What is going on? First of all, let me hasten to say any forthcoming remarks or observations should not be taken as being directed toward anyone or as criticisms of anyone or anything that happened last week.

Sometimes we get complacent. It happens to everyone in every area of life. (I am going to say something important in a minute. You will know what it is when you read it.) We fall into routines. Routines are not bad per se. They help us take little mental breaks so we can focus better when we need to. It is like coasting on a bicycle. We get our heart rate stablized so we are ready for the next incline. The problem comes when we allow the routine to become the norm. When we do that, we soon find ourselves hemmed in on every side by lack of inspiration and purpose. We find ourselves in the proverbial rut.

Here it is. That is exactly what the religious spirit has done in the Santa Maria valley. We have done "business as usual" in the churches for so long, we think it is the way we should be doing things. It has become the norm. And, because the spiritual world has precedence over the physical world, the civil authorities operate the same way, from the courts to the police department, to the school districts, to the various focus groups and task forces that seek to deal with some very serious issues confronting the valley. All those things may have helped, but we still have the problems because we have not brought God's power to bear on them. Listen folks, God so loved the world that He did not send a committee.

Many people believe change starts at the top. We can go with that. The problem is, we do not recognize the top. When I say we, that is all of us. We often look to a pastor, mayor, police chief or other person in some position of real or imagined authority to steer us a different direction. Thank God for those people and what they do for society, but they are not the top. Oh we know who is on top. I wonder why we have made Him irrelevant? Maybe that is not fair? Think about it.

As I said in a previous post, I hammer and hammer and hammer the concept of Spirit, Soul, and Body into the men at the mission. It is my firm belief that when the Spirit of God is working through the redeemed, human spirit, we change. There is no other way. So let me ask a question. When we know we have a problem, why do we sit down and try to reason when we should be worshipping then, "...Position your[our]selves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you [us]..."? (2 Chronicles 20:17)

We do not need committees and task forces. We do not need to reason together. We need intercessors, prayer teams and prayer walkers. We need to worship God and see Him show Himself mighty on our behalf. We would sometimes make a lot more progress in the spiritual realm if we would just get out of God's way and let him be God.

You do have a part in defeating this religious spirit. May I encourage you in the strongest manner possible to seek God for what your part is and begin to engage? Jesus promised that if we would ask we would receive the answer. (Matthew 7:7) Then come on along. The ride is getting more exciting all the time!