By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Progress is hard sometimes, isn’t it?  I believe that a major part of the difficulty is that progress means change.  And we don’t all adapt to change at the same rate or in the same way.

Only once or twice in all these years have I shared a photo that I did not take.  This is one of those, but it was shared with me to use.  What you see, of course, is a house.  When this photo was taken not too long ago, this house was already in the demolition process.  The 3-bedroom 2-bath home with double carport has since been torn down.  Huge oak trees, hundreds of years old, cut down and cleared away.  This is half of a city block that is being cleared off in order to build another building.

What does this matter?  It is progress, after all.  Well, as I remind us from time to time, it’s all in your perception.  You see, I have a very different vantage point here than the rest of you do with this house.  This is where my brother and I grew up.  This is where our little sister spent her first 8 years or so.  This home was the church’s pastorium, provided for my dad, the pastor, and his family.  This was home.  Seeing these photos, shared with me by another preacher’s kid who happened to live in this very house just before we did, brought a lump to my throat.  Sometimes just seeing progress is difficult.

The neighboring church, which will always hold a very special place in my heart, is preparing for their future.  They are in the plans to build a multi-purpose activity building for their growing congregation.  This means excitement is in the air for them!  And that’s wonderful!  

So, with the difficulty for some, comes excited anticipation for others.  It’s all in our perspective.  You see, God always sees things more clearly than we do.  And whatever difficulties may come this week, whatever destruction, whatever bulldozers may head our way simply represent the progress, growth, and resurgence coming right along behind!

I don’t like seeing my past erased.  But I do love to see the future grow brighter!  And that’s the perspective I choose to have this week.

Just a thought.