The Winds of Change

In case it wasn’t clear to you already, I’m a child of the 80’s.

The first president I vividly remember was Ronald Reagan. I remember his election in 1980, crazy as that may seem (I was only four at the time, but for some reason I remember my mom and dad watching the election returns come in on TV). I remember his re-election campaign in 1984… how my family supported him 100% (and as such, I did), but one of my closest friends thought Mondale / Ferraro was a MUCH better ticket. The landslide win. At eight years old, you’re just starting to get a handle on this part of the world.

I remember his support of the space program. NASA was in its prime… every kid dreamed of becoming an astronaut. The Challenger disaster turned our worlds upside down.

Then there was the Soviet Union… our rival superpower. We worried about nuclear threats and World War III. Were taught the phrase, “better dead than red”. The “Commies” always seemed to be the enemy in movies and games. Remember Red Dawn?

But change was coming. Boy was it ever.

Reagan and Gorbachev developed a friendship. The two rival leaders genuinely seemed to enjoy each other, and the winds of change began to blow. The Soviet Union started to seem less scary; less of a threat. Nuclear disarmament treaties were signed.

And then, one day, seemingly spontaneously… communism fell. The Berlin Wall came down. The Soviet Union crumbled.

Talk about change.

Scorpions wrote a song about it… I remember it vividly.

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change.

1989. All of these world-changing events going on. I was 13. Maturing. About to enter high school. Rejecting religion.

Change. Both in the world, and in my life.

Today, the winds of change are blowing again.

I’m 36 years old. Jesus is an integral part of my life. And the world is changing before my eyes.

China is an economic superpower. Europe is in decline. Social change is everywhere: gay marriage, 40% of children born to single moms, drug use becoming legal, pornography rampant, abortion the holocaust of our time. Our president re-elected in spite of all historical precedents.

We’re all scratching our heads… it feels as though our America is being blown away by the winds of change.

And they’re blowing strong. Our culture here in America isn’t what it was 20 years ago… certainly not 40 or 60.

How do we respond, as Christians?

I think I tweeted the options earlier:

Our culture is changing. We can either curse the darkness or shine a light. What’s it gonna be?

You see, the challenge of today is this: change is a fact of life. The world doesn’t look like we want it to. Odds are, it’s not going back.

How do we respond to the fact we don’t like this change?

How do we respond to the fact we’re sickened by the influence of sin and evil we see?

How do we respond when we come under attack for our faith because our views are no longer the societal norm?

Do we curse the darkness or shine a light?

It appears to me we really don’t have an option if we claim to follow Christ.