My, my, my how things have changed! Used to be Good Friday was different. In my younger days (late ’50s/early’60s) Good Friday was unlike other days. Believe it or not, many shops and stores closed from 12-3:00 in honor of the religious tradition that Jesus hung on the cross and died from 12-3 (6th-9th hour). I think you know where that tradition has gone these days. Since there was only McDs at the time, nothing was open on Sunday except a few select smorgasbords.

Other things have changed too. What used to be wrong is no longer wrong. We used to know the good guys from the bad guys. The good were white hats; the bad wore black hats. I knew the Lone Ranger and Tonto; Roy Rogers; Mike Nelson (Sea Hunt); Perry Mason, et al were always going to win. With a few exceptions, marriage was for keeps. Hard work was a virtue (and not frowned upon). A lie was wrong. A hand shake was good. Adultery was a scandal. Black was black; white was white. Gray rarely existed.

Sometimes change is not good. Things we thought would always be wrong are not in society’s and many church’s eyes. In this, we have missed the boat.

God’s Word never changes. God’s truth never wavers. But what He does offer is a chance to start all over. That is a good change. From old to new. From mess to order. From darkness to light. From garbage to recycle. From slavery to freedom.

“Father, change me into a new creation. Help me to put away the old and put on the new. Help me to make the right kind of change.”