Affecting Change

A little latitude, if you don't mind. It'll take me a minute to get to the point today.

I read a story in the paper about somebody who attended a major concert downtown. They enjoyed the show, but didn't like being stuck in parking-garage traffic for nearly 45 minutes afterward. The next day someone else attended the same show and suggested that if the first guy had thought through it, he could've parked miles away and used public transportation and been home in 45 minutes after the show. In addition the parking-garage guy could've saved $18.50.

I went back to my university last fall and realized that they'd pretty much eliminated roads that went by the main academic buildings and eliminated most of the parking lots to make that square-mile a walking/biking campus.

Our student ministry room has undergone 5 complete overhauls in the 6 years we've been in our building. Each one was brought on by a need we tried to meet.

Our church has had some staff turnover in the last three years. Our staff was remarkably intact for the 7 or so years previous.

When I decide to diet, it goes very well for a month. Maybe even two. Then it seems I settle back into more familiar (read: less healthy) patterns.

Exercise programs have come and gone, too. I once trained for a marathon and was doing surprisingly well until injuries derailed that experience. I haven't gotten back to anywhere near that level since. A month or two here. A month or two there at the gym, but that's about it.

I've got a chair that really does need to go into retirement...but the "test drives" I've taken in furniture showrooms just don't excite me (well, cost is somewhat of a factor. I had NO IDEA how much furniture costs, man. None.) so I stay with the old one.

And I'm amused when we do things at our church services that are different and we get such strong reactions. We darken the windows and from the reaction you'd think we'd let Ozzy Osbourne lead worship one Sunday. We put the bulletins in the chairs instead of handing them out and people make it a point to tell us how much they didn't like that. We rearranged the chairs. We varied the lighting. We went "unplugged" with worship one night. We decided to have people write their names on their nametags instead of printing them out. All of these little things set people on edge and you'd be surprised at the heat behind people's complaints. Not just little shoulder shrugs with words like, "Not my cup of tea, but whatever, man." Real, live, "don't-do-this-again-or-else" approaches.

Last night the fireworks show for our town was at a different location. I'm sure that today I'll hear how much better it was at the old place.

We've been getting inordinate amounts of rain in our little burg this summer. We haven't had a 100-degree day yet and we're into July and I'm thrilled (with all due understanding to those north and west of us that have experienced major flooding, I'm only referencing my personal experience here) with the daily showers. But I've been hearing more griping about this than when it's abysmally hot here.

I brought up an article I read in the paper about giving to a church through use of a credit/debit card and we had more Diner debate than on most topics.

I'm teaching a class on making spirituality practical and the feedback that I'm getting is that the class is helpful, but it's hard to implement the suggestions.

So, where am I headed with all this?

Change.

It doesn't matter if it's a change in our driving habits and availing ourselves to public transportation, or redesigning our eating/exercise patterns, or writing your own name tag when one's been printed for you for years, or getting a new favorite chair, or turning off the television, or turning off our cell phones at lunch (or not text messaging in movie theaters) when we're enjoying conversation, or a three-week weather pattern.

I keep hearing that "change is hard on people."

I can see that, too. Personally, there are areas where it's easy for me to change (working with teenagers for two decades will keep you on your toes) and areas where it's difficult (diet/exercise).

And, I'll tell you why I think it's hard and what to do about it tomorrow.

But I'd like to hear your thoughts on it first.

*pours coffee, turns Diner sign around that says, "Yes, We're Open!" to face the street, and waits*