There are certain things I count on – sunrises and sunsets – ? – ok, I can’t think of anything else at the moment that is consistently constant in life. The real constant seems to be change. Everything around me is constantly changing, including the people in my life who move around and away so often I can’t keep up and neither can my address book. I want to ask, “doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?” – as the song says. My computer is continually receiving “updates” as are phones as well. Technology is outdated before we even get it home from the store.

So you can imagine my alarm and dismay when I heard the news that BMW now has a car that changes color! This would be my worst nightmare for sure. I have trouble now finding my car in the parking lot when I come out of the store or the gym or wherever I’ve been. Sometimes my search lasts longer than at other times, but it does happen to me more often than I would want to admit. Now I have had my car for seven years and it is still the same color it has always been, yet I often have trouble locating it in a crowded parking lot, as I have just confessed to you. This is because I can’t seem to remember where I parked, not because I can’t remember what color car I drive.

But if I had a car that changes color, this would add a significant challenge to my parking lot search. I might not recognize my own car and I wouldn’t know for sure what color car I was looking for. Of course these cars are not going to be like chameleons, changing color at will on their own, playing tricks on their owners and such. I, as the car owner, will decide on the color changes and when they occur. But when I come out of the store, will I remember to what color I have most recently changed my car? I already know the answer to this question – no, I will not remember my car’s current color, even though I’m the one who committed to the color change in the first place.

There are so many things I seem to be forgetting, probably because things change so often. So I have no confidence that I would keep up with my car’s constant color changes and remember today’s chosen color. I’ve got more important things to remember, like the passwords I have chosen for so many different things that require passwords. Keeping track of my car’s color is a challenge I don’t need.

Fortunately, I won’t lose much sleep over this new car feature since I don’t think I’ll ever own a BMW. However, it is exhausting keeping up with all the other changes that occur every day, leaving me to play catch up constantly. COVID rules keep changing and I need to keep up. Quarantine is down to five days now from the original fourteen. This seems hopeful. To be “fully vaxed” now includes a booster shot. We are no longer told the vaccine will protect us from infection or stop its spread – but we are promised that it will prevent hospitalization and death. Fauci said masks weren’t necessary, then he made masks mandatory.

The rules for travel and testing change daily, making planning ahead tenuous at best. Is it a vaccine passport that’s required or a negative test? or both? seventy-two hours before or forty-eight? Two weeks to flatten the curve is approaching two years and the conflicting information I am given changes daily. If only there were something or someone who didn’t change – something or someone that I could count on to remain constant in this world of constant change. This would be an anchor for me, something to keep me from getting swept up and away in the constant chaos of uncertainty and change. Hebrews 13:8 has the answer,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The consistency I long for and the comfort that it brings are found in the person of Jesus. This is reaffirmed in James 1:17 when James describes God as,

“the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

In Numbers I read, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.” (Numbers 23:19-20)

How often am I lied to by those I trust? How often do people change their minds? I know I change my mind often enough as I am bombarded by changing information from all sides. But I have found a constant to hold onto in this chaotic, ever changing, always uncertain world. Jesus’s words reassure me,

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Today I can say along with the apostle Paul,

” . . . I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12) The New Living Translation of God’s word says the same thing in this way,

” . . . for I know the One in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return.” (2 Timothy 1:12 NLT)

I have believed Jesus, I can trust Him (because He does not change) I can entrust myself and my future to Him because He is able to keep me. He will guard my life until the day of His return.

Lord, thank You for being the same yesterday and today and forever. You are my constant in this inconstant world,

sincerely, Grace Day