Change Is in the Air

In this season when one hears the expression, “There is a change in the air,” thoughts almost immediately turn to the changing of the seasons. The air becomes a bit cooler in the evening. The leaves begin their colorful blushing transforming them from a productive food factory to a collection of discarded dried leaves raked into piles for mulching. The pace often changes, too. In some cases the commotion of summer assumes a new rhythm. Vacations wind down and other pursuits resume in life’s agendas. The sports focus begins to change as well from the gentile game of baseball to the bruising tackles of football. Even the appetites reflect a change as cooling treats of iced drinks and refreshing frozen desserts are moving toward a different menu featuring mulled cider, pumpkin treats, and other goodies of the “warmer variety.”

However, I am not thinking of seasonal changes that are rather fleeting. I am thinking about life changes that mark a new chapter in one’s existence. Our western culture is in the midst of Titanic changes that are remodeling the way people think and act in life. Depending upon your world view, these changes reflect a moral cancer or a welcomed shift that has been needed for years. In view of the fruit of the change and the dehumanizing of the culture, I’d be more inclined to see the shift more as a bane than a blessing. The western world is not becoming a better place in which to thrive as God has intended. It has become a place where vast majorities of people have shifted into a survival mode. When the fruit of change is social dysfunction, a cynical and critical outlook, and an emotional paralysis, it would seem that the change is questionable at best and needs at least to be critically evaluated. People, it seems, are ready to hunker down and hold on to life for all they are worth. Instead they should enjoy the world which God has made for them, see His handiwork, and bring glory to the Creator of it all.

Recently I was in a place where there was definitely a “change in the air.” While speaking at a Bible Conference at America’s Keswick, I encountered men and women who were in the midst of change. Associated with this conference ministry, which is tucked into the pine barrens of southern New Jersey, is a ministry called the Colony of Mercy. Their biblical approach to change has transformed men enslaved by various addictions. Often these individuals have wanted to change for years and had sought out treatment through various social agencies to no avail. However, when they came to Keswick they discovered that their lives could be changed and the addictions that held them could be broken. Before I spoke, men testified of the change that had taken place in them because of the transformation that occurred because Christ had worked in their broken lives. On several occasions I was so moved I felt like saying, “We just heard what the Word of God and the power of Jesus can do. Nothing more needs to be said. Let’s pray and ask God to do the same work in our lives.”

The change in the air at Keswick was taking place from the inside out. The words of the Apostle Paul kept coming to mind as I heard these men describe how they had become new men – some of them after enduring decades of addictions and experiencing unproductive treatments. Paul wrote, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). These word were penned by a man who knew all about being addicted to sin. He testified he was religious, zealous, and fighting against God’s ways and will (see Acts 22:3-21; 26:2-22). In those same testimonies he also related how he had met Jesus Christ and became a new man from the inside out.

           This is how real lasting change occurs. One man told his story at Keswick. Before he spoke he read a passage relating to the words of Jesus about change that does not transform. Jesus taught in Matthew 12:43-45 that a temporary fix can actually make things worse. Then he said something like this, “I kept trying to get my addiction out of my life, but I did not replace it with what I really needed.” Talking to him later, I discovered he now has Jesus in his life and as he put it, “I am not just reformed. I am reborn with a new life.” That is how lasting change occurs, from the inside out. An old preacher once said, “To keep a pig out of the mud puddles you need to do more than clean him up, put perfume on him, and a bow around his neck. With all of that he will still head to the mud puddle as soon as he can. To change a pig so he says out of mud puddles you need to change his nature.” 
           The change in the air that I saw at Keswick is one that is astounding in human terms. However, change can take place in places other than in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. They may occur wherever a person responds to the grace of God and allows Jesus to make a change from the inside out. 

A Lasting Influence?

             Traveling this summer to the top of Hensley Mountain in the region of Yaak, MT, we traversed over switchback trails that meander through forests of Ponderosa and Lodgepole pine. Toward the top of the mountain clusters of Balsam pines dot the landscape just before our four-wheelers topped the almost flat ridge. At the top of Hensley we took in the breathtaking vistas looking toward the mountains of Canada to the north and Idaho to the west. Dark valleys connected the mountains and the Yaak River twists and turns through the valley below until it is hidden by mountains in the distance. God’s creation is majestic!

            This now barren mountain top was once heavily influenced by the US Air force from 1951-1960. On this site the 680^th AC&W (Aircraft Control and Warning) Squadron maintained radar surveillance providing early detection of potential enemy bombers during the “Cold War” period. In its heyday between 200-300 airmen, living five miles from the mountain peak, supported the Radome Operation on Hensley Mountain. The “white mushroom” radar dome has disappeared as well as the various outbuildings located on the mountain top. One of the former airmen who served there, Richard Hofler, revisited Hensley Mountain in 1992, and wrote, “There was virtually no indication we, the 680^th, had ever been there.” They had influenced a mountain for a moment in time, but it had not been a lasting influence.

            This summer I walked around the top of Hensley and saw very few remaining remnants of the 680^th Squadron – just several concrete pilings imbedded with massive anchor bolts. No other reminders existed. Probably millions of dollars, thousands of hours, lots of manpower, and major planning had been invested in the project on the mountain. However, the former airman was right, there was virtually no indication “that they had ever been there.”  They were just a temporary intrusion on a mountain that had and would last for centuries.

            Perhaps this picture of the 680^th Squadron illustrates the way some people view the impact they will have in their world. They have low expectations and ask, “In the long run what difference will I make in the world anyway?” Their view is that they will not make a lasting influence, so why try. On the other hand, there are those who will have higher aspirations and expectations. They will ask the same question, but they will strive for a greater impact and will live desiring to be agents of change that will make an impact. We all have influence. As Mike Myatt states, “Anyone can create moments of influence, but creating lasting influence is where your sights should be set.” People who strive to have a lasting influence will be legacy builders. They are not satisfied with the status quo and by being preoccupied with things that will not matter. They live for purposes beyond themselves.

            To live such a life there are at least three ingredients to help us do so. First, invest your life wisely. Jesus told his followers in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Too often we are spending all our time and energy investing in the temporal and not the eternal. The temporal is easily removable just as a radar station can be removed from a mountain despite all the investment that was made.

            Second, live your life carefully. The Apostle Paul realized that a life can be fully invested and yet end up poorly. He writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 that a person who will have a lasting influence must live in such a way that their life does not end up being disqualified and therefore wasted in the end. Recent history in our nation provides numerous examples of people who expended vast sums of wealth and energy to be or do something only to end up a sordid joke because of living distorted lives. There are multiple examples too of Bible characters that started out well, but destroyed the impact they might have had through careless living. An author reports a study by Dr. J. Robertson Clinton, of Fuller Seminary, who “found that only one out of three biblical leaders maintained a dynamic faith that enabled them to avoid abusing their power or doing something harmful to themselves or others. Only one in three finished well.”

            Third, live your life serving selflessly. When the Apostle Paul describes how life is to be lived as a Christian in Romans 12:9-21, he describes a winsome life. Such a life is marked by selflessly looking at ways to love and serve other people. Living such a life leaves a mark in the world. Think of people who have had a positive and lasting influence in our world’s history. How often you see in them qualities that give “flesh” to verse 10, “Honor one another above yourselves.”

            I suppose one could say we will all be a person of influence. Will that influence be a good or a poor one? Will that influence be a lasting one or a passing one? Christ expects his followers to be agents of change in a world than desperately needs positive influences. Thus he says His followers should be light and salt in the world (see Matthew 5:13-14). Make it your goal to be more than a temporary influence in the world in which God has placed you. Our world desperately needs people who will leave positive lasting legacies!       

What Do the Remnants Represent?

Unlike the many trails in Maine’s Acadia National Park, this one was not well marked and showed signs of neglect. Fallen branches covered many spots along the way and most of the path was reminiscent of a well-worn deer trail. We were here because I was curious. A National Park map revealed a small splotch of color that indicated park property. This spot was far removed from other areas of the park, and I hoped it would provide an off-the-beaten-pathway to a rocky cove familiar from my childhood. It was five decades since I had been in this location, and I could vaguely remember what it looked like. I recalled that in the area were the ruins of one of the famous “summer cottages.” These “cottages” harkened back to the late 1800’s when wealthy “rusticators” built magnificent mansions along the coast of Maine for their summer getaways from the heat and humidity of the stifling cities of the east coast.

                After scrambling through the woods, climbing over fallen trees and branches, we discovered a path that led in the direction of where I thought the cove would be. A few hundred yards down that path, we came upon the ruins of the foundation of the “cottage.” The footprint of the “cottage” was about the length of a basketball court. It was ringed by granite foundation stones that were interrupted by occasional brick archways which at one time must have served as lintels for basement windows. On one end of the ruins facing the cove, elaborate brickwork arranged in a herringbone fashion remained. My guess was that it was a porch or portico of some kind that must have looked over the cove and out into Frenchman’s Bay. The vista was now blocked by massive birches and pines and their overhanging branches. Stepping off the brickwork, we followed a series of massive granite steps. These descended sharply through tall trees leading us toward the distant sound of the ocean crashing on the rocks. Following the sound we finally broke out of the leafy canopy and stood on the rocky coast watching and listening to the waves. I wondered, “What did the remnants represent?” My imagination kicked in and I wondered about those who lived there. What activities took place there? Why had the place fallen into ruins when it was evidently such a wonderful place and in such a spectacular location?

                Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I discovered that the remnants represented a great deal. The ruins were of the home of George Dorr, who is often referred to as the Father of Acadia National Park. The building was indeed a magnificent three story “summer cottage” of the Queen Anne style built by Dorr's father in 1876-77. According to George Dorr, "It was the first house in Bar Harbor to be really well built; and well-built it was with nothing spared in work or material." Many influential political, social, and financial individuals of the late 19th and 20th centuries were frequent guests at this “cottage” called “The Old Farm.” It was here that the plans were made to preserve the land that now makes up the National Park. Dorr invested most of his private wealth to buy up lands to contribute to the Park; and when he died in 1944, his fortune had dwindled to almost nothing. He bequeathed his “cottage” and the property to the National Park Service. In 1951, the NPS determined that his home had lost its value and should be demolished because of disrepair. The ruins are a remnant of a wonderful place, where a rich history is connected, where a wonderful mission was launched, where a remarkable man lived, and where a later generation forgot what the place stood for and had it dismantled.

                Some parallels come to mind when I look upon some of the “spiritual remnants” I see in the religious landscape of the United States of America. I see the remnants that remain in some universities that reflect that there has been a dismantling of their former glory and purpose. For example, on many buildings around Harvard University you find the original motto of the university adopted in 1692, “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae,” which translated from Latin means “Truth for Christ and the Church.” The remnants of the past reveal significant words. Do the realities of the current campus instruction reflect those aspirations?

                In numerous churches we see remnants of the past in creeds and confessions. They are being quickly abandoned and dismantled by misguided tolerance, quasi intellectualism, anemic faith, and fear-filled accommodation to transient cultural whims. Even churches with the word “Bible” in their name are often just a remnant of their former selves. Too often the Bible is not God’s Word to be revered, studied, and obeyed but simply another source to be considered as an option among options. If churches and Christians are but ruins of their former selves, would it be good to go back and ask, “What do these remnants mean?”

                In the Old Testament the leaders of a previous era wanted following generations to ask questions about the remnants they saw. An example of this is seen in Joshua 4:1-7. The idea was this; there are lessons in the remnants of the past that should serve as a reminder of how to live in the present. In the New Testament Paul says the remnants of the past are to act as examples and admonitions for those in the present (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11). Exploring the way God has worked enables us to explain how God works to a new generation.

                George Lucas of Star Wars fame observed, “Old stories have to be reiterated again in a form that's acceptable to each new generation. I don't think I'm ever going to go much beyond the old stories, because I think they still need to be told.” Do we too need to go back to the past and ask, “What do these remnants mean?” Perhaps there is a story to be remembered in the ruins of the past.