By: Jack Kale, Central Pensacola Beach
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Dorothy said after the tornado had whisked her away to Oz. The last time I went to an Auburn football game I realized how much that place had changed from when I was in school. The Winn Dixie is about to become an Aldi. Our Central Pensacola church just moved back to Flounders after having been at Crabs the last few years. Times change. People change. Places change. Sometimes we find ourselves feeling differently in the same old place that isn’t the same anymore.
Eloise Hause was 102 when I met her. Her husband, George, had died over twenty years earlier when he was in his 80s. “He thinks I went to the other place,” she said humorously. There is no way that sweet lady with her powerful faith went to the “other place”; she went to heaven, though it would take another six years, until she was 108! I wonder how different her town was from when she was born to when she passed away over a century later. It had to have been a completely different place.
I’ve got a friend who is trying to move to South Florida. He wants to start over with a fresh beginning. Finding a different place to put some roots down sounds like a good idea for him, and I’m sure he will find a good place to land. Finding a new and different place can give him some opportunities to make new first impressions and start over again.
It’s taken years for me to understand what my dad meant when he said, “Wherever you go, there you are.” As a kid, it seemed like nonsense. Now, I’ve come to recognize the truth that our problems, personalities, junk, and history follow us wherever we go. We can’t really start over unless we change what’s inside us, no matter where we find ourselves on the outside. Wherever you go, there you are.
God made the Israelites wander around for 40 years to work out the changes inside them so that they would be ready to enter the new promised land of milk and honey. They had to let the old guard die off so that when they entered that new place, it would also be a different place. The place was different, but by the time they got there, they were different too.
Just like people, places can change too. When a restaurant is under new management, it can become better or worse. Old haunts and hangouts can lose their appeal as the winds of change come their way. At other times, new life can be found at places that used to be boring or dead. The angel asked the women at the tomb, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). Yet, Adam Hamilton’s mega church, Church of the Resurrection, started in a funeral home! Central Church in Henderson started in a small downtown pub called “Oddfellows Hall.” Both have shown that new life can come from unexpected places.
This week, you might find yourself in a different place. Maybe it’s you who’s changed. It could be that the place has. Either way, I invite you to experience fullness, life, and faith wherever you are. Give new leadership a chance. Change your perspective. Take note of what’s different. Don’t wait for the place to change to make it better. Change yourself, and you just might find yourself entering a promised land of hope and opportunity.