Leaving a dream home in the mountains, a church that grew from 50 to 2,000 people in five years, and moving to South Metro was a real change. Also, this is the worst time to sell a house and drive across the country hauling stuff.
Change is hard. In fact, days before we moved to Savage, we buried my mother who battled brain cancer for 13 months.
Farmers had a hard time even getting seed to plant this year because of a worldwide wheat shortage. The housing market has plummeted and ironically tax assessments went up!
Airlines are charging for bags now. What’s next? “In case of loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will appear. Please have your credit card ready, slide along the side, and oxygen will begin to flow!”
Minnesota has changed since I lived here in the early ’90s.
People are no longer rolling up their jeans, Christian Laettner is gone (thank God), the current governor doesn’t wear spandex or “wrestle,” and it just isn’t the same watching the Twins without No. 34 in center field. I can no longer drive to my sister’s place without seeing the horrific change of a missing bridge that I most vividly remember every time I drive over the new one. Yesterday I passed a “vehicle” smaller than my son’s go-cart on the interstate and I’m thinking, “ya just wait until January and they are trading back for that Suburban.”
So how do we respond to all this? I believe we are facing change on planet Earth that no hybrid, oil well, global summit, newspaper article, or politician can fix. Today there is a record number of natural disasters, a billion will go hungry tonight, Earth is warming, and more military conflict then ever before. The push for global politics has been offered as a real solution to slow or stop change.
But I wonder, can the Nobel Peace genius be naive enough to think that we can all get along, drive a hybrid, grab a latte, and change the force of nature? Can a new president?
If the parents of junior hockey league cannot cooperate, can the world? If 50 percent of married people cannot get along after they’ve pledged eternal love, can the world?
We MUST take responsibility for our planet, but we must also prove ourselves in the little things before we can take on planet-size things.
We cannot stop AIDS, disease, cancer, depression, hate, poverty, divorce, hunger, suicide, drugs, abuse, murder, violence, etc. We Christians often get labeled as closed-minded Republicans who don’t care about the environment. The reality is I simply believe in a God who never changes, who created this planet, who entrusted us with this planet, a Savior who gives us an eternal hope off this planet, and a book that speaks to the planet’s demise.
All of which, I might add, seems to be exactly what is happening today. Honestly, I, along with everyone else, really don’t have a solution for stopping all this. But I can offer a God who can change your heart, give you peace in the midst of a storm, and a quote from a great prophet: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV).
This might not seem like much of a resolution, but it sure beats the offer of cramming my wife, three kids and a dog in a Smart Car.
John Erbele, former full-time pastor at SHEC for eight years, now shares his time with Bridgewood Church in Savage, Minn. Reach him by calling SHEC at 251-3976 or visit the Web site at www.shec.net.
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