Sticking with the motorcycle theme from last post I want to speak about how things change. Eight of us bikers gathered in Las Vegas on September 7th. It was smokey and 115 degrees. Fortunately, our ride that afternoon was relatively short. Only 120 miles to St. George, Utah. Hottest ride ever blasting along Interstate 15 at the posted 80mph...maybe a little more at times. The next day everything changed. A windstorm accompanied with freezing temperatures hit the region as we took off that morning heading 420 miles away to Moab, Utah. The wind gusts out of St. George peaked at 70 mph...mostly cross winds. Try holding on to a motorcycle at 75 mph with 70 mph crosswinds slamming you constantly. Before we arrived in Moab we experienced the low of 29 degrees. That's right. 115 degrees 24 hours earlier to 29 degrees. I had to put on just about everything I brought. Long underwear, regular pants, riding pants, ski socks, three shirts, sweat shirt, riding jacket, beanie and a baklava. We were supposed to ride the Rockies for two days following Moab but the snow was falling and roads impassable. Things change. We picked the two days of heaviest snowfall in recorded history for that time of year in the Rockies region.
In life, in a much deeper and profound way, things change. When someone you dearly love dies everything changes. All the changes that occur at a time of loss are a matter of the heart and mind. The heart is the seat of our emotions and loss triggers grief, terrible sadness and a seemingly unbearable brokenness that feels as though it will never go away. It is at those moments when things change that we might ask ourselves, "Does God matter right now?" Let's be honest. Sometimes we might feel like God doesn't matter. Maybe we blame God. We might wonder why he created a world in which such heartache may occur. But God doesn't go away.
In my book I write, "God matters because life is not complete without God. I do not
necessarily mean the “God” many people learned in church. I mean God as the ultimate and highest reality in the universe—the alpha and omega, the first word and the last word, the now and the not yet, the imminent and the transcendent. This description is not some poetic theological statement for a Sunday sermon. It is the basis for having peace, joy, hope, strength, faith, courage, meaning, well-being, and contentment in a world of tragedy, heartache, sadness, and suffering."
A lot of changes are occurring before our very eyes in the world around us. Big changes. At times it feels as though God doesn't matter to anyone. But I know he does matter. He has to matter. Wouldn't you hate to wonder about the fate of the world if God didn't matter? Things change.
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