God's new thing

We're examining this notion of starting again, of change, and despite what some would say, I believe my wife, the dear patient Mary, would argue that I hate change.

Especially when I'm going through it.

In the past week, I've gotten new health insurance cards in the mail. This came as a shock to me because I probably didn't read some memo from somewhere. I didn't know we were getting a new carrier. When I went to print out new prescription drug forms after filling some prescriptions yesterday, oh, my were they different. I moaned and whined. Why, oh why, were we changing something that I was so used to?

Till I went to pick up the prescriptions and found out I no longer have to pay up front. Uh. Er. Ooohhh.

Change is good, don't you think?

As we race headlong into a new year, I'm reminded of God saying this:

For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
The wild animals in the fields will thank me,
the jackals and owls, too,
for giving them water in the desert.
Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland
so my chosen people can be refreshed.

I'm afraid that there are times I get comfortable. I like change more than some imagine, but what I really, really want is stability. But I also know staying stuck in the past can keep me from the new thing God wants to do. If Israel stayed stuck in the discouragement and seduction of Babylon, they would never look for the new thing of release from exile.

This year, let's together strive to do the next good, right thing -- the next new thing. God is already there.