Turning the corner of life

As I see it…
When turning the corner as you make your way along life’s corridors, you are bound to bump into situations from time to time you simply did not expect. But then again, life it that way. Unless we are spending all our time hibernating, we are bound to bump into the unexpected sooner or later. The unexpected usually provides a basis for change. At the minimum that change is an acquisition of new knowledge. At the maximum, that change can set in motion a series of chain events that can alter the way we do life: a new person added to our acquaintance, a change in vocation, a move to another place, the purchase of something significant. Handling these changes is enviably the spice that goes into the stew of our existence. Granted, some of us would just as soon keep the stew bland and barely simmering. Others of us embrace the change and the accompanying spice and any other thing that might make the pot boil a little. Now change is going to happen. That’s a rather obvious statement. Proof of the obvious is just sit down and look at a series of pictures of yourself over a 10 to 20 year period. If you don’t see any change, I want the name of your plastic surgeon. I grew up in a family whose “ventures” meant that I attended 13 different schools in grades kindergarten through graduating from high school… in four states and three different time zones. So the concept and practice of change is neither new nor particularly dramatic to me. On the other hand, the older I get, the more I appreciate stationary! There’s just something about my favorite easy chair and sweats in the winter and shorts in the summer. That’s one wardrobe that’s easy to maintain and comfortable to wear. Still, I marvel at the Patriarchs in the OT. At and after the age of 90 they’re moving from one end of the Fertile Crescent to the other, up and down the Ridge Route of Samaria and Judea, side trips to the Jordan Valley and Egypt, all the while simply trusting an unseen God to get them there and back…without the help (or hindrance) of a GPS device. I think it’s also safe to say that they bumped into a few unexpected people and circumstances along the way. Still, they trusted their unseen but very personal God. I do believe that it does say something about their faith in their unseen God. But I also believe that it says more about the faithfulness of that unseen and very personal God. “And [they] went out, knowing not where [they] were going.” If it was good enough for the Patriarchs, then…