"For I the Lord do not change.” Malachi 3:6 ESV

I live just outside a large metropolitan area. It seems every day when I drive into the city (whether on major highways or back streets) the roads are always under construction or in the midst of repairs. The routing I followed yesterday is not the same as the routing today. Signs for detours and lane changes pop up regularly. I can’t trust any of the traffic patterns that I have known before. Driving becomes exhausting.

Every night various apps on my smartphone update so when I open them each morning I have to reorient myself to how to use them. Tracking all the new features becomes confusing. In our society, not only has change itself become inevitable, it has also become constant. It leaves us all a bit weary and at times, disoriented. 

Perhaps these experiences are what led me to ponder anew the immutability of God. In the midst of the swirling changes and uncertainty of daily life, I can be sure that the God I trust, the Lord I follow, the Holy Counselor I depend on, is the same as He was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow. The God of the ancient Scriptures is the same God of my current realities. 

What comes to mind when you hear “witness”?  I think of ABC’s Eyewitness News and the 1985 thriller Witness starring Harrison Ford about an Amish boy who witnesses a murder (yes, I’m dating myself). Recently, however, I’ve been challenged to step up as a witness. In fact, ALL believers are called to testify as witnesses.

Not in a court of law. But in our lives and through our work.

Sometimes life reminds us of our limits. 

I had a humorous encounter with my limits years ago when a dear friend/mentor asked me for a favor. This woman had invested in my life in such meaningful ways I’d run through a wall for her if I could, so I eagerly jumped at the opportunity.

My assignment was simple: drive her to the hospital for a minor surgery, listen to post-op care instructions from the nurse, and drive her back home.

And here’s how things went south:

Emotionally healthy children who grow up to be emotionally healthy adults are comfortable in their own skin, in the gender God chose for them. These days, when a child shows non-stereotypical gender behavior, people start to freak out, afraid that their child is actually the opposite sex on the inside.

Good news! There are things parents can do to raise gender healthy kids, girls who are content to be girls and boys who are glad to be boys. Without resorting to artificial stereotypes, either.

What we want and what we get are often two very different things!

You would think that inthe church of all places we would easily find community. However, our churches often consist of a large group ofpeople coming together for worship but leaving in cliques. New comers may be welcomed in word while excluded from our conversations and activities.