This last weekend we moved 800 miles northeast from Sachse, Texas to Pekin, Illinois. It is at a time of transition like this that you find yourself comparing one situation to the other. Just like when we first moved to Texas and compared everything to life in Illinois, now we are back in Illinois comparing everything to life in Texas: the new house to the old house, the new beautiful big open backyard to the old private backyard with a pool, today’s 82 degrees in IL to tomorrow’s 108 degrees in Texas, getting reacquainted with family and friends here while really missing our friends who had become family in Texas, a new and unfamiliar youth group here to the familiar and comfortable youth group there, shopping in the large metropolis of Dallas vs shopping in a town of 35,000, traffic in a town of 35,000 vs. driving the high-five in Dallas. The list goes on and on.

Any time we make a major change in life, we are going to find ourselves comparing the old to the new. Look back and consider when you first got married or when you had your first child, when you started a new job or moved to a new community, when you lost a loved one or graduated from school. There are many times in our life when things shift and major changes take place in our life. We made this same change when we turned our lives over to God and allowed Jesus to take residence in our hearts through His Spirit.

In the last three chapters of Ephesians, Paul does a lot of comparing of the old way of life to the new life in Christ. On Friday, we looked at Ephesians 4:14-15, which compares how we used to live with what we are growing to become: 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

“Growing” – this word describes my life well. With all of life’s changes comes growth. I’m reminded of an old BeBe and CeCe Winans song. The lyrics go like this: Change, one of the only things in life that still remains the same. How strange that change is here to stay. But let me say, the more life’s rearranged, the more His love remains – Oh His love remains the same.

Yesterday morning, Pastor Lloyd Brock reminded us of the love of God expressed in Isaiah 49:15-16: Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? Even if that were possible, I would never forget you! See, I have engraved your name on the palms of my hand.

Our name is engraved in the palm of God’s hand and that never changes! I’m so thankful that, when surrounded by change, our God remains the same. I’m thankful that as I sit down in a new environment this morning to share my morning coffee with Jesus, there is no difference in how He meets with me and teaches me. Just as I grew in every way to be more and more like Christ while I lived in Texas, I will continue to grow in every way to be more and more like Him here in Illinois.