Pastor Wiersbe had a standard joke. Wherever we would meet him, he would repeat the story. I guess just seeing my face made him think “Baptist” or something ☺.

“Hey Tom! How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?” Then with the appropriate pause (Betty says he was a comedian in high school so his timing is impeccable!) “CHANGE?! CHANGE?!” he would shout with all the enthusiasm he could muster.

You have also on occasion heard me say, “No one likes change except a wet baby. And sometimes even THEY aren’t so happy about it!”

Yet the reality is that life is rich and meaningful—not because all things remain static, stable, and just the way they always have been. But rather, the reality of “change” adds flavor and variety and a bit of spice to the recipe of our living! The second wisest man to ever live celebrated this reality when penning his own memoirs. Taking time to look at life in the rear-view mirror, Solomon wrote:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted... Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I love the Spring when the courageous little blades of green take the risk of poking their little heads up out of the thatch of last year’s lawn gambling that they won’t get their ears frozen by a late frost, when barren silhouette trees begin to pop their promising buds, and early flowers wake up the morning to greet the sun. But then comes the Fall. And all the beauty we so enjoyed for the past number of months is suddenly lying in wind-blown piles scattered helter-skelter across the lawn. When mowers are replaced with blowers and bags of lawn refuse line city streets. Be honest. We COULD all be “snow-birds” and head south before the Spring has given way to Summer and Summer yielded its place to Fall. We could go where it’s shorts and short-sleeves all year long, but where’s the spice of life in a world that never changes?

So as Spring grass blades bend themselves to become part of next year’s thatch, and early morning walks force head-bands and jackets, we pause to give thanks to the One who has written into the fabric of life the threads of change.

There IS a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak…

There really IS a “Time for EVERY matter under heaven…”

Seize the season. Kick life up a notch. Embrace the reality of change. It’s an indispensable spice of life. God created it that way!

So how many Baptists DOES it take to change a light bulb? Three. It takes three! (One to hold the bulb and two to spin the ladder!)

Happy Thanksgiving Season, Church!
Pastor Tom