Trusting Through Life's Changes

Well, I want to invite you to grab the message notes that look like this from right on the inside of your bulletins as we continue the series that we started last weekend and continues throughout the month of May, kind of scratching an itch that a lot of people are feeling these days, trusting God in troubled times. And this morning we want to talk about how to trust God through all of life's changes.

And as you're taking those out, last week my wife and I took our third child, my 12-year-old David, just over the hill to Lascatus in San Jose. That's where I grew up. And I hadn't realized this, but David can't remember ever visiting my old neighborhood. So we went to the house where I was born and grew up over in San Jose. Went to my elementary school and drove past my junior high school. And went to my old church just to kind of see the layout. And I was doing a lot of this. You see that freeway right there? When I grew up, it was nothing but fields as far as the eye could see, right? Do you find yourself doing this when you go back home?

And you see this? See how far we're driving in my junior high school? See, look at the odonna, but that's almost two miles. We walked the whole way, every day, both ways, you know? And I'm sure to him it was sounding like woolly mammoths strode across the horizon also. But I don't know if you feel like this, but when I go back to the places where I grew up, just over the hill, I feel like I'm Rip Van Winkle, waking up after 100 years of sleep. So much has changed.

But at the very end of the day, we happened to be driving by the cemetery where my dad is buried. Now, this is one of the earliest memories of my life because my dad passed away when I was just shy of my fourth birthday. And I can very vaguely remember lots of flowers and my mom and my aunt and my uncle standing around the graveside service there in Los Gatos at one of the cemeteries. And so I said, "Oh, this is where dad is buried." And he said, "Well, let's drive in there." And I said, "Well, okay, I haven't been here in years and years and years."

And he said, "Well, I kind of would like to see your dad in my grandpa's grave. I've never seen it before." And I said, "Well, you know, honestly, it would take me forever to find it. The trees have all grown up so much. I don't think I could find it." He said, "Well, let's just go for a walk kind of real quickly around here." And I said, "Well, all right, but we're not going to find it." And instantly my wife said, "Found it!" And we walked over there. And I think in retrospect maybe I was almost afraid of finding it because there I saw the headstone that's kind of imprinted on my memory from so long ago.

And then I looked down there and I looked up and I saw my third child, our 12-year-old son David, standing right there by my father's grave that I remember from when I was four. Suddenly I felt like I was seeing in fast forward all of the changes that I've been through in my life, all the ups and downs, all the school starts and stops, all the loved ones who've passed away. Somehow we're all telescoped into that moment. And I became so aware of the changes that life brings to us.

We can live our lives unaware of this and then we turn around and so much is different. There's certain moments in life when this is brought to your attention. And I think Mother's Day is one of those moments because many of you will go out to lunch after this service and you'll have a conversation that remarks on how much things have changed since last year. So and so is not with us anymore. They're in heaven. Look how much the children have grown. Look now it's your first Mother's Day, honey, and now I'm a grandma. And today you'll be so aware of these changes.

But life's changes happen around us all the time if we are willing to notice them. There's evidence all around us. For example, this is my cell phone. Probably most people here have a smartphone or a cell phone, something like this. But do you remember these cell phones from the 1980s? The evidence of change is all around us all the time, isn't it? Look at this thing and that was just the hottest technology. How about this? A computer from just 50 years ago. Look at this picture. I have no idea why, but it even has a steering wheel. Why? I don't know. Maybe that's the first iPod wheel or something.

Today one of these smartphones has more than the capability of both of those massive machines from just a few short years ago. Life changes and evidence is all around. You drive past the evidence of life's rapid change. Look at this. Here's an aerial shot of Pleasure Point from the 1940s. Look at that. Very few buildings and here it is today. Change is all around us.

Now for a real peek at how much life changes and our society changes, look at advertisements. I want to show you something. Somebody very graciously gave me this gift on my birthday. This is a Life magazine that was published on March 31, 1961. This was my birthday. And you think, oh, 1961, maybe not so much has changed since then. I don't know. But you open these kinds of magazines up from around this era and you'll see how much the world has changed just by looking at the ads inside of these magazines.

For example, ads like this. For a better start in life, start cola earlier. Moms from the baby dedication take note of this. It says, "How soon is too soon? Not soon enough." Small print brought to you by the soda pop board. I kid you not. How about this one? Your doctors smoke camels more than any other cigarette. Says they actually help your throat. Now it's Mother's Day, so here's a vitamin ad aimed at moms. So the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks. Try that with your moms today. No, don't try that, all right? But things always change so fast.

In fact, how many of you feel like things are changing faster, faster, faster, faster? The pace of change is picking up. Show of hands. Anybody feel like that? Yeah, well guess what? You're right. Look at your bulletin, some truths about change. Change is accelerating. That sense you have is accurate. Experts say the speed of change and the scope of change is increasing. Many books have been written on this.

One example, the speed of travel. Check this out. In 2000 BC, the Camel Caravan was the fastest form of transportation known to man at about eight miles an hour. Then in 1825, the steam engine went 13 miles per hour, top speed. Right at first it took about 8,000 years to increase the average travel speed by five miles an hour. And in less than 100 years, airplanes went 100 miles an hour. By 1960, jets over 600 miles an hour. And nine years after that, we were going to the moon at 24,000 miles an hour. Change just snowballs.

They say the amount of knowledge we have doubles every one to two years. You just can't take it all in anymore. And change is unpredictable. Change is accelerating and change is unpredictable. There was an article in the newspaper the other day, they had a list of things that nobody would ever have imagined happening just in the year 2000. Like Toyota having trouble selling cars. Who would have guessed that? How about this one? Bill and Hillary still together and Alan Tipper divorcing. Who saw that one coming? Not me. And all kinds of other things. It's unpredictable and change is inevitable.

About the only thing you can predict accurately about the future is this: it's going to change. And so you and I need to learn how to handle it. And this is so relevant to all of us, but particularly some of you are going through rapid unsettling life change right now. Did you know that over 14% of Santa Cruz County is unemployed right now? Over 14%. And that means statistically somewhere around 14% of you are between jobs. That is one of life's most stressful changes.

Some of you, it's other life changes. Kids heading off to college this fall, a lot of my friends are going through that and it's quite an upsetting change for many of us. Loved ones passing away. Some of you, this is your first Mother's Day without your mom. Or maybe loved ones getting older and having difficulty remembering things. Or maybe you getting older and having difficulty remembering things. You know, life's changes just hit us.

Rick Warren has a little proverb about change that's in your notes. It goes like this. First line is there is no growth without change, right? Anything that grows. A tree, a child, a church, a business. If you want it to grow, it's going to have to change. And there is no change without loss. Every new beginning is the ending of something else.

Ever seen a trapeze act like in a circus or on TV or something? Show of hands, how many of you have ever seen a trapeze act in your life? Well then you know that at some point, like this moment that's on the screen, even if just for a split second the trapeze artist is holding on to what? Nothing. She's a hundred, two hundred feet up in the air, she's holding on to nothing because she has to let go of the old trapeze bar before she holds on to the new thing. And some of you are there right now.

You've left a job and you don't have the new one yet. You've left a relationship and you don't have the new one yet. You're hanging on in mid-air. You've come out of an old habit but you don't have the new habits formed yet. Hanging in mid-air is what it feels like and that is a scary place to be. But change requires leaving something behind. Losing something before you grab on to something else. Even good change.

So there's no growth without change. There's no change without loss and there's no loss without grief. There's no loss without at least some grief. Now you might be thinking of the loss of grieving a loved one and of course that's the obvious application here but every change, even small changes involve loss and every small loss, even small losses involve some level of grieving.

I really went through a period of grief when Elizabeth, and this is probably part of the reason I was just like practically weeping during Heather's song, Elizabeth, our middle child, our only daughter, went off to college a couple of years ago at just 17, moved out of the house, moved up to Rockland, California to William Jessup University and when she moved out I thought, "She is never coming back." I mean she's going to come back for visits and going to come back for the summer and so on but just kind of knowing her personality I thought, "She is never coming back to live here as a resident again."

The boys, oh I know they'll be back. I'm sure of that. But not her. And so I grieved. I mean in retrospect it's so clear but at the time I didn't know why I was going through all these emotions. I mean I went through every classic stage of grief. I went through denial. She's not going to that college. What college? She doesn't need to go. She can stay right here and go to college. And my wife would ask me, "How come the little parental references are still on your desk? They've been there for two and a half weeks. You need to send them in. They're late. What references? I don't need to fill those out. I don't think she's probably going. I think this is just a phase she's going through."

I went through anger. I was so mad at the college we went to their open house and I was just peppering the teachers with questions. "What would you do about this?" My wife was going, "What is wrong with you?" I said, "I don't know. I'm just mad. Taking my daughter away from me." And then finally just kind of acceptance. "Well, I guess if she feels she needs to go, she will." Now I was happy for her at the same time. Absolutely I was. You say, "Where did you happen?" I was totally happy for her. I know that's a normal thing to do. It's awesome to go away to college. I was happy. Does that make sense? Can you be happy and grieve at the same time? Can you be? Of course you can.

I see it almost every time I do a funeral, especially a funeral of a believer here at this church. There's genuine grieving taking place and I hear some of the funniest stories I've ever heard in my life at the reception following the funerals as the very people who are grieving are taking joy in some of their wonderful memories of the person that they're grieving. So there's happiness and joy that go together every day. But there is no growth without change. There is no change without loss. And there is no loss without some grief.

So let me start to put this together for you. In a world where change is accelerating and change is unpredictable and it throws us on our heels and change is inevitable and there's changes happening around us all the time in society, in our kids' lives, in our kids' schools and at work. What's happening is we are all in some stage of grief all the time. You feel a little discombobulated sometimes. You wonder why you're kind of getting angry at the news or you just feel this odd sense of resignation. You're in grief. You're grieving a lost childhood or a lost youth or lost orchards that used to be there where now there are houses or a freeway or a lost innocence in the broader society.

And you've got one of these stages going on, denial or anger or bargaining or acceptance. We're all going through grief all the time. That's why we feel so discombobulated. But the good news is there can be grief without despair. There is grief without despair. There's grief without hopelessness. There is grief with confidence. There is grief that says, "Yes, I'm grieving this, but I know there is good ahead. I know God has the future in his hands." And that's the whole point of the passage of the Bible that we want to look at this morning.

We're in 1 Thessalonians and I want to take you to chapter 5 today. This is the little book of the Bible that Mark started last weekend. And I wonder if you remember the context. The Letter to the Thessalonians, and these are the ruins of Thessalonica here on screen. This was written almost 2,000 years ago to the Christians there in Thessalonica. And their world is changing so rapidly. You remember Paul shows up and he preaches and there's a revival. Lots of people become Christians. But three weekends later, Paul and Timothy are driven out of town. So this brand new little church has lost their senior pastor already.

And yet Paul hears a report that they're still staying faithful, but all of it just things are changing like dominoes. They've lost their senior pastor. And now many of them are losing their jobs and many of them are even being persecuted. And they're being persecuted by the government. And to top it all off, there are rumors the end of the world is coming. Just like there are now. One group here in the States has predicted the end of the world on May 21st, just a couple of weeks from now. Another one is waiting for October. And then there's the 2012 group. Well guess what? That was happening way back in the first century too in the Christian community and every century since and these poor people, these brand new Christians are getting freaked out at all of their changes.

Their whole world is changing around them. And so Paul writes this letter to them saying, calm down. Don't panic. Don't grieve without hope like the rest of the world grieves. He says in chapter 5 verse 8, "But let those of us who live in the light be clear-headed, protected by the armor of faith and love and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation." He's saying, "Be clear-headed. Don't panic." And what's he mean when he says, "the confidence of our salvation?" Well he really connects the dots for them here. And I hope this speaks to your heart right now if you're having some anxiety about the way the world map is changing or you're freaking out about some of these predictions about the end of the world.

Next verse. He says, "For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out His anger on us." And then he says the same thing another way. Christ died for us so that whether we're dead or alive when He returns, we can live with Him forever. Or encourage each other with these words. He's saying, "Look, whether you get killed, some of you are afraid of that, or whether you stay alive and you're afraid of all the changes, or whether Jesus Christ returns and it's the end of days," he says, "for the Christian it's all good because Jesus Christ died to save us. We get to live with Jesus no matter what happens. It's going to be okay."

A key underlining idea here is this, I can choose my attitude. I don't have to automatically freak out just because everybody around me is freaking out due to all of the changes and predicted changes. And then in the next several verses, Paul gives these little bite-sized nuggets of wisdom on page two of your notes. Through all the changes of life, I can choose to be these five things. And I got to warn you here. These verses almost sound like clichés because Paul says things that probably you're saying, "Oh, I've heard all this before. Be joyful. Pray always. Have an attitude of gratitude. Mail Christmas packages early." It's almost like that, you know?

And you're going to go, "Oh yeah, yeah, I heard it. Been there, done that, heard that before." But before you do, you got to understand that he is saying to people who are seeing their world fall apart, people on their heels, discombobulated, grieving because of all the change all around them so rapidly. He's saying instead of freaking out when people say it's the end of the world, be like this. All this advice takes on a new twist when he realizes these are, he's saying, these are attitudes that can replace the anxiety that you're feeling because of all these changes, all right? This is where it applies to you and me.

He says, "Number one, I can choose to be joyful." Even in the midst of all this trouble, Paul says, "Always be joyful." In verse 16, now what does this mean? It's not emotion, it's attitude. It's not always possible to choose your emotions. It's definitely not always possible to choose your circumstances, but you can always choose your attitude. I have a book, Children's Letters About Their Moms, and it has touching letters like these. I like when my mom thinks I'm asleep and she gives me a little kiss on my forehead and calls me her Angelita Piquenya. I love that.

Or this one from Douglas, age 10. I got adopted, but that's okay because my mom said they chose me over every other baby in the world. But I want you to look at how often the kids' biggest favorable impressions about their moms are about the way their mom responds to circumstances with a joyful attitude. Chooses to be joyful. Look at this thread here. Look at this next letter, Angelina, age 10. When my mom cracked her favorite plate, she cried. That made me cry. Then she started to laugh. And then I laughed too. And then she put the pieces in the garbage and said, "Oh, well, it isn't the end of the world." And that's her big impression about her mom.

I like this Judith, age 10. Also, my birthday, she gave me this huge wrapped box. Inside there was another box and then smaller and smaller. And the last one had a penny in it. And then she gave me a necklace. She's really fun to be the child of. Susanna, age 9, says, "She's so fun. If we eat in the Chinese restaurant, she always makes up what the fortune cookie says like, 'I'll be the first one on Mars or become a famous opera singer.'" Or about Nicole, age 9. She does good jokes. Like on your half birthday, she bakes half a cake and stuff like that.

So often they're saying, "Wow, my mom responds to life joyfully." Moms, listen. When you are modeling that, you might say, "Oh, bake half a cake on a half birthday." Or laugh when a plate gets broken. That's no big deal, right? There's more important things I do. There's almost nothing more important you do than this. When you are modeling this, you are modeling something very spiritual. You're modeling how to be joyful, how to find things to delight in, no matter what happens in life.

Listen, humor is to life what shock absorbers are to a car. Would you agree with that? Humor is to life what shock absorbers are. I have some friends here. I'm looking at some of them in the eyes right now who are people here in Twin Lakes Church with terminal diseases that are ravaging their bodies. Yet, I would say they're probably the most joyful people I know in this congregation. When I see people like Curtis and Todd, they are always smiling. And they're always ready with a joyful greeting. Why? They have learned the wisdom that no matter what changes, and these people have seen everything change in their lives, but they understand you can choose your attitude, and you can choose to be joyful.

And I'll tell you what a key to being joyful is. Number two, I can choose to be prayerful. I can choose to be prayerful. I go up to some of my friends like Todd every Sunday. He comes up to me full of joy and a smile, and he shows me his prayer list. It's a whole page that he has laboriously written out people's names and what he's praying for. And you don't think that there's a line connecting those two dots, Todd's joy and the fact that Todd is praying all the time? When you're in an attitude of prayer, it just changes things.

That's why Paul says in the next verse, "Oh, and never stop praying." People read this and instantly feel guilt. This is a verse that produces guilt in every single Christian I know because they don't get it. They read this and they go, "Oh, I'm not praying enough. Got to be on my knees more." What's he saying? You have to be on your knees all the time? No. He's saying always be in an attitude of prayer, right? You're driving, you're working, you're cooking. Always in the back of your mind, you're living in this subtle awareness of the presence of God. Can you imagine how that would help you through all of life's stresses? Just imagine that.

You're always kind of in an awareness of the presence of an omnipotent, omnipresent, sovereign God. You're watching the news and instead of being fearful, you're prayerful. I was kind of challenged by this thought last Sunday night when I was watching the amazing events unfold like probably all of us were out of Pakistan. And suddenly it struck me, "When's the last time I prayed for the Taliban?" I said, "Pray for the Taliban." Didn't Jesus say, "Pray for your enemies?" Didn't he? Yeah, he did. Didn't he say, "Pray for those who persecute you?" Yeah, he did. He said, "Love your enemies?" Yeah, he did.

But take it one step at a time. You know, first I'll get to praying for them. When's the last time you prayed for people like that? I thought, "You know what? For me, it's been years. But I need to watch the news with an attitude of prayer for these things and prayer for the kids who are in the gangs who make headlines. Prayer about these things." Imagine how an attitude of prayer would change everything that you go through. You're driving. So he cuts you off on the freeway and instead of getting all worked up, you pray for them and say, "Lord, get him." You know, no, you don't really say that, but stay prayerful, not panic.

Next, stay thankful, right? Stay thankful. Verse 18, "Be thankful in all circumstances." All those changes. "For this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." I want to unpack this a little bit because this is so rich and we tend to go, "Oh yeah, I've heard that before." Let's just circle the word "all." In every circumstance, there is always more to be blessed about than to be stressed about. Great example, Helen Keller, blind, deaf, unable to speak, famously wrote, "I thank God for my disabilities, for through them I have found myself and my work and my God." What an amazing choice of attitude.

To see things you are grateful for, and this is really a discipline, and I'm going to get back to that in a second, but look at this verse. I hear people say, "I'm in this transition right now. I feel like I'm on the trapeze and I'm in mid-air. I've lost my job or I've lost my family." What is God's will for me right now? There it is. This is God's will for you, is to be grateful in all circumstances. Notice the Bible does not say, "Give thanks for all circumstances." Last word I want you to circle. Circle the word "in," not "for." Big difference.

My dad died of lymphoma. I don't have to be thankful for cancer. Yay, go cancer! That's crazy. But in the circumstances, I can be thankful for 100 things that God is in control, that God loves me, that this event is not changing his plan for my life, that he'll use everything for good in my life. And by the way, these all tie together, don't they? All these attitudes. Prayerful ties right into joyful, which ties into grateful, and they all feed each other like a wonderful positive feedback loop, don't they?

In fact, let me give you a homework assignment. Make a list this week. In fact, let's say make a list tonight so you don't forget. Make a list tonight of 10 simple things that bring you joy for which you can pray and be grateful, and then you'll be practicing all three of these attitudes. Make a list of 10 things just right off the top of your head that make you joyful, that bring you happiness for which you can pray to God and give thanks. I did that on Tuesday, just like I thought, just right off the top of my head. What are the top 10 things right now that I'm just happy for?

Very simple things. Number one, here's my list. Good Mexican food and good Greek food and good Swiss food. That's all number one. Number two, reading good books. I'm a read-a-holic. I just love to read just the act of reading. Brings me pleasure. Number three, looking in the late afternoon light at the trees that I can see from my back porch when the sun goes down and the light goes through the leaves and they just kind of glow green. I just love that scene.

Number four, smelling dinner cooking. Number five, trees full of blossoms. Number six, unexpectedly seeing wildlife like suddenly seeing a deer or a rabbit or a fox that's always like, "Wow, wow, how about that? Look at that. That was a rabbit." I even have dreams about this, seeing bobcats and mountain lions and then I try to run and I can't run, but that's another story. All right, now. Number seven, seeing great movies. Number eight, being with my whole family at a sit-down dinner. Number nine, going out with my wife for dinner. Food comes up a lot on this list, doesn't it? I think I was hungry when I wrote this.

And number 10, I wrote, "I'm so grateful for my church, which I really love so much and it makes me happy to think about." So this week, make a list, just jot it down quickly, of 10 simple things like that that make you happy and then pray and be grateful to God and it'll, that all feeds each other like a loop. Then the fourth attitude to choose that'll help you through all of life's changes. It'll help you grieve without despair and this one may surprise you. Paul warns you and me, "Be not cynical yet not gullible." That's number four, don't be cynical and don't be gullible.

That's what this next verse is all about. Do not quench the spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. In other words, don't be automatically jaded, right? Here are some things going on in some other church, that's so stupid, but don't be gullible either. Look at the next verse, "But test them all and hold on to what is good." Don't be jaded, but don't believe everything either. Why? Remember the context. These people were hearing these prophecies, Jesus is back. The world is going to end. Happened in the first century, it happens in the 21st century.

In fact, if you read more of Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians, you'll notice he talked a lot about this movement that's going on in their little area. But there's never a spirit of alarm from Paul or cynicism from Paul either. He says, "Test these things." Example, Harold Camping is the guy predicting what he calls the end of days. It's coming up May 21st and they're going on a caravan all over the country talking about this. And lately I talk to a Christian probably every day who's come up to me and secretly said, "I'm really afraid about this. I heard about this. I read it in the newspaper and it's freaking me." Or they'll say, "This is for a friend. A friend is really scared about this? What would you tell such a friend?"

And so we can get alarmed by these kinds of things. So I went onto his website and I looked up his reasoning. Why does he say this? And it's nonsense. Where it suits him to take the Bible literally he does and where the literal interpretation doesn't suit his ideas, he comes up with some wild allegorical interpretation. It just fits the scriptures to fit his dates. Honestly, I feel like if you take three minutes to look through his reasoning, you'll go, "Oh brother." I mean, going on...his method, you could make the Bible mean whatever you want it to mean.

But listen, I would guess that 99% of the people freaking out about his prediction have not tested them like the Bible says to. I don't want to be cynical. Cynicism is unattractive, but I don't want to be gullible either. Now, isn't that a tough combination? It seems to me like we're usually one or the other. We're either Eeyore or Tigger, right? It's either, "Yeah, right." Or, "Really?" Right? And this is important because listen, especially when we're going through tough times, we are so vulnerable to con artists and to alarmists. So Paul says, "Please be clear-headed. Don't get cynical and don't be gullible either."

And finally, number five, stay hopeful. Paul says, "No matter what happens, God will develop you into Christ-likeness, and then he's going to transform you at the resurrection and bring you to the new heaven and the new earth." And then in verse 24, "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." So stay hopeful. Listen, God does not owe you an explanation for everything that happens in your life that may come as news to you. He doesn't. In fact, in most cases, you're not going to get it. A lot of things happen in your life and my life. You're never going to understand it until you get to heaven.

But God does promise the big picture. He will work everything out for good, and he will get you to heaven. He is faithful, and he will do it. So choose in the midst of the grief. Grief is not bad, but you can choose in the midst of the grief to be hopeful. Example, do you know who David Wilkerson is? He's the famous pastor at Times Square Church in New York City. He wrote the bestseller, "The Cross and the Switchblade," about his ministry to gang members. That was made into a movie. Well, I don't know if you've heard this, but he was killed in a traffic accident just about three weeks ago.

Yet on his blog, "The Day of His Death," here's what he posted about three hours before the accident. "To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word, 'Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights.' And in that darkness, you will soon hear the Father whisper, 'I am with you.' I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident." Isn't that amazing to post "The Day of Your Death"? But what is always amazing is that is always God's message to those of us who grieve through all of life's changes. Ultimately, nothing happens that can thwart His plan. Someday it will all make sense.

So stay hopeful. The bottom line is this. In a world of changes, focus on what never changes and what never changes. God, His love for you. Listen, let me go back to that trapeze analogy. Some of you feel like you're in mid-air. You left behind the last bar and you haven't quite felt your fingers touch the next bar and you feel completely ill at ease. But what you have to trust is that God's hands are always there. You're not in mid-air and can reach out and take hold of His hand, take hold of what is firm and steadfast and never changes. God's love for you never changes. He's always faithful. God's plan for you never changes. God's word never changes.

Standing at my father's graveside watching David there this past week reminded me of how my mom raised my little sister and I for eight years as a single mom. And I want to really give props to all the single moms here today because I have a little bit perhaps of an inside view as to how difficult that can be for you single moms. Hang in there. My sister and I would thank you and encourage you in what you're doing. But I'm sure there were times that mom felt like she was just kind of hanging there in mid-air with nothing to hang onto.

But she learned that God's hands were right there holding her tight. How do I know that? Recently I asked my mom, "Mom, if you had to summarize what you learned during those years, those mid-air years, when you were raising us as a single mom when it seemed like we didn't have enough money to make it to the next week, let alone for the future, and now you look at your kids and you look at yourself and it all turned out okay. Mom, if you had to summarize in one sentence what you learned, what would you say?" And she thought about it for a minute and you know what she said? In her Swiss accent in English she said, "The Lord will provide. The Lord will provide."

In a world where you feel like you're on your heels because of all the changes, in a world where it feels like you're hanging in mid-air, have faith that God's hands are there. Hang on to what never changes, what never will change, what hasn't changed today. And that is that God is faithful and He will do it. Trust that the Lord will provide. That's what it means to trust God in tough times. That's what it means to trust God through all of life's changes. Let's bow in a word of prayer right now, won't you?

All bow your heads and close your eyes with me. If your head's bowed right now, I just really want to pray for those of you who are going through that tough time right now and you're grieving. I would encourage you to focus on God because He never changes. And in this moment tell Him you trust Him no matter what. When I say it's all going to be okay, I don't mean it's always going to be a storybook ending. Say, "God, I trust you even if it doesn't seem to be turning out the way I want. I'm going to trust you no matter what. I'm going to trust you even if it's not the storybook ending." Job did this when he said, "Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him." He was saying, "God, even if this is the end of the road, even if this is the end of the world, even if I don't live another day, God, I'm going to trust You because You're still God because I still love heaven, because my Redeemer lives and I'll live with Him forever."

Can you place your life into God's hands that way? His hands are the only place that's stable in a world of accelerating, inevitable, unpredictable change. God, we choose to trust in You. We're hanging in midair, but we choose to place our hands in the hands that are always there today. And we determine to choose our attitude in the midst of our grief in a world rocked by change. We choose to stay on the lookout for things to be joyful about, to be prayerful about, grateful, not cynical and not gullible about, and we choose to stay hopeful, God, by the power of Your Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.