When you have been away from your normal routine for a time, there are always changes that take place that cause you to say things like, “Wow! Look at that! There’s a whole new housing development where once there was just a field.” We’ve noticed several changes that have taken shape in our “old stomping grounds” of East Tennessee. There have been some speed humps installed in our sub-division; a huge housing development has risen out of the field behind the church I pastored for a tad more than 34 years; some houses and barns have been torn down to make way for new developments; and people have gotten a little older than when we first left the area.

Change is to be expected. It is to be understood that as time moves forward, things transform into something else. You may not notice it when you live in the middle of it, because it happens gradually. But it’s happening nonetheless. Some of that change is good and can be easily accepted. Other times the change is not necessarily bad but it’s just a little harder to accept.

Bonnie and I have noticed changes in our lives, as well as in our surroundings. We don’t move quite as quickly as we once did. There are some aches and pains that weren’t there before. And there are certainly changes in the way that we approach each new day. Our desire is that we may be an encouragement to those around us and those whom we meet each day. We want to be examples to others in the way that Christ wants all of us to approach a changing world and our roles in that world. Pray for us that we will be faithful disciples of Jesus every day!