The More Things Change…

Last year I had to take a trip back to the place I called home for over thirty years. It was very surreal; I’d only been gone five years and yet it had changed so much… structurally speaking. There were new funky glass buildings, new apartment buildings, in fact there were new buildings everywhere.

However, on this trip back “home” I found the old saying to be true, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Guernsey, the island I grew up on, is not very big, nine miles by four at the farthest points. So it was inevitable that I would bump into old friends and colleagues during my three week stay. For the most part I would share with them the one minute version of my journey over the five years of my living in Canada (up to that point). And most of them were astonished by the amount of things my family and I had done in such a short time.

As time went on I began to get a little depressed speaking to my old friends as many of them revealed to me that they are in the same jobs, working for the same people, and living in the same houses or apartments – none of which are bad in and of themselves. However, the thing I noticed in many of them was a lack of vision and determination; their minds seemed closed to the endless possibilities this life has to offer, or they lacked the drive to do something about their aspirations and dreams.

As I said, I come from a small island called Guernsey (map here), which is off the cost of mainland Britain and France. It has a population of about 70,000 people. I know, that’s a crazy amount of people to be living on an island that’s nine miles by four! The sad thing, as I see it, is that many of the people in Guernsey have no vision, desire, or motivation to do something extraordinary with their lives, to move past the here and now. It seems that many have simply accepted the status quo of their lives and called it a day.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that what’s really lacking is the drive that only Jesus can put into someone’s life, the spark that, if we allow Him, Jesus can fan into a flame. It’s no good saying “I wish…” as this has never helped any one reach for a goal. Instead, we need to say “I can” and “I will.” I say this because I firmly believe that with God all things are possible.

But I say again, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The “here and now, closed to everything else” mindset used to drive me crazy. I have never understood, and never do I want to understand, what it means to just exist. In Scripture we are told in no uncertain terms by Jesus himself that we can have life and life to the full (John 10:10). No second best deals, no waiting, no more simply existing from one paycheck to the next. Jesus offers us the very best that life has to offer. In short, Jesus said we could live an exciting, fantastic, phenomenal, Holy Spirit driven, fired up life! Not only now, but for eternity!!!

I don’t mind telling you I love my life! I’m not trying to sound better than anyone else, that’s not my intention at all. But a couple of my friends actually revealed to me that they thought their lives “sucked.” Most of the others told me that they would love to do something with their lives, but didn’t see any way to do so. And this mindset goes far beyond my small “home-island” of Guernsey.

Even when I was pastoring I would have people tell me that I was so lucky because I had taken some chances in life. They would tell me that they would love to do something extraordinary, but fear of the unknown held them back. But let me ask this, can any one of us say what will definitely happen tomorrow?

Over the past few years I have personally witnessed wealthy people declare bankruptcy, the well become ill, the strong become weak; all this to say none of us is promised tomorrow. We have to live in the here and now, yes, but with a vision of Heaven in our heart. A goal in mind. Something other than ourselves to live for – something that gives us hope, purpose, and meaning.

A full life has been offered to everyone, everywhere, not just those who take a few chances or “get lucky”. I’m reminded of the “epic” illustration. In short, do we want to merely exist, or do we desire to live the epic life, being all we can be, seeing all we can see, helping as many people as we possibly can, desiring a better life not only for ourselves, but also for those around us?

The great Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream.” Well, I have a dream; that all believers, everywhere, will themselves begin to dream big dreams, dreams that only God can fulfill through us. And then in turn, when the believers begin seeing their God inspired dreams realized, I believe that an unbelieving world will sit up, take notice, and begin dreaming themselves.

Oh, the possiblilities… if only we would take God’s hand and allow Him to lead us. And then maybe we can all begin to truly live the adventure called life!

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
January, 2009

Picture by P. Hilt