Columns
REFLECTING ON RELIGION: God is doing amazing things in Mineral Wells
By REV. ERIC DOUGLAS
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19
The life of a Methodist preacher is one of constant moving. For those of you who are not familiar with how our churches find pastors, a bishop appoints a pastor to each church. The placement of that pastor is reviewed each year and then it is decided if they should move or stay put for another year. The long short of the matter is that it is a life of constant change.
I describe this process to shed some light on my own views of change. The idea of change is as natural as waiting to hear if I’m staying or moving for the next year every spring. I find it really funny, though, that the idea of change is so hard for so many people. It is even more perplexing that people would resist positive change.
As as I look around our community in this season I’m beginning to see the signs of great positive change. Look around at the new development downtown or the changes in the school system. Take a moment and visit with some of the new people in town or the folks who would like to move here but can’t find a good place to buy or rent because everywhere is taken already. Visit with some of the local store owners who are banding together to focus on the community or the nonprofit boards that are taking on serious community issues. We are moving, vibrant and alive.
And yet there are those who would throw cold water on the whole movement. They might not like change or they might be afraid to do things differently. Some might even be pushing divisive agendas that threatens the fabric of our community. All of the negative that faces the changes happening sounds a lot like the nation of Israel that repeated grumbled to a God that would provide for them constantly. They were a people who would pray for God’s miraculous deliverance and then complain when they were delivered because it wasn’t the way they wanted to be saved. Salvation didn’t come on their terms so they were unhappy and complained.
If you find that you are the one always complaining, if all your statements are filled with negativity and you can’t see the good that God is beginning in our community, please take step back and realize that God’s salvation (both for individuals and communities) doesn’t come on our own terms. God brings about change in ways that we can’t even begin to understand. It is the main reason He’s God and we’re not.
God is starting something new and amazing in our community. I don’t know exactly what it is or how it will all play out, but I do trust Him enough to embrace the change and positive movement. I want to see what He’s working on! I hope all of you will join me in praying for our community and following after God in the new creation and path He is making in Mineral Wells. He is starting a new thing and its springing up even now! Won’t you join Him?