Here at Daycholah Center, the earth is spinning continuously at almost 800 miles per hour, we are also rotating around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour.  (If you don’t believe me, Google is a wonderful thing.)  These simple realities mean that change is a constant part of our world.  The air we breath today is probably not the same air we will breath tomorrow, the weather conditions tomorrow will probably be different than yesterday, in addition to that, all of the living things that surround us are changing as they age.  We typically do not find these changes to be startling because they are fairly predictable and gradual.  They are changes that we have grown accustom to, and we expect them to occur continually.

There are other changes that occur and we do find them possibly startling.  When we do not have guests on site we have been known to make improvements to our buildings, we have accomplished relatively minor projects like flooring and paint, to full building renovations, and at times, complete building removals.  In all of these cases I think we can agree that they have been improvements to camp, but that does not stop individuals from proclaiming, ‘Oh Wow!’ when they first catch glimpse of the improvements.  Sometimes, startling is a good thing.  There are other times in which we find change to be startling and it does not appear to be a positive thing, at least initially.  The changes catch us off guard, they are not expected and in the moment, it might be hard to envision the positive aspects.  I believe that reaction is part of human nature, and when it occurs it is important for us to step back and gain a broader perspective of the greater picture.

In the Old Testament, in the first chapter of the book of Joshua, God is speaking to Joshua.  The people are about to enter into the Promised Land, and Moses has just died.  God is giving Joshua a pep talk of sorts before Joshua takes over leadership and God assures Joshua that God is not going anywhere, that God is going to be steadfast and remain at his side.  There is no reason for alarm.  In that same manner, I believe God is firmly at our side.

The year 2020 is going to be a year of change, we have been living it out for multiple months already.  There will be times when we are startled by that change.  When that occurs, I encourage you to take a step back, put things in perspective and then look for signs of God, standing firmly by our side.  God will be there, in the people working for hope and transformation.

~ Rev. Nathan Athorp