To The Heartland

We are halfway across the United States (from California to Illinois) and we did it after Joanie had spent the day teaching school. From LA to Chicago in a little over three hours. Not bad, not bad at all. As I prepare to go to bed (I will be the last of the household to hit the hay) I have yet to be able to greet the newest Frymire. That will all change at 10:30 am when we go to the hospital to see Joel, Shafali and Malachi. It has been more than a year since I have seen my son and his wife. Too long to go between visits. But all that will change when the morning (its 2am here) hits and we are off to the maternity ward.
Joel sent us this picture this afternoon. Malachi is 24 hours old in this pic. According to Joel, he has already changed features and looks different than he did yesterday. Isn't that amazing? We were created to change. But it seems the older we get the more we fight against any kind of meaningful change. We struggle to hold on to the comfortable while the very nature of our bodies and lives seeks change.
I've changed. OK, maybe not since yesterday, but I've changed this week. I've become a grandpa - that's a change! I've grown a goatee (anything to hide part of the mug - this is my collegiate rebellion phase) - that's a change. I've taken on a new ministry position at Church of the Foothills in Pasadena - that's a change. I'm taking two new classes in the Fall - that's a change! I'm married to Joanie - well, that's the same thing I've been for 32 years. But being married to her always brings about new things in our lives together and we've both changed even over the course of this summer as she has recovered from hip replacement surgery and we've adjusted our lifestyles.
God changes. That sounds like heresy, doesn't it. I thought he was the same yesterday, today, and forever? But God does change. He changes us. Salvation is his desire for each and every one of us and that is a profound change. And when God is in relationship with human beings who are in a constant state of change, doesn't that somehow change him or, at least, change the constantly changing dynamic of his relationship with a fallen, broken world that is being changed daily by the changes that are being made in people's lives by the Great Change Agent Jesus Christ?
I pray that if someone takes a picture of me on the inside and compares that with another picture of me 24 hours from now, I hope it shows that I have changed. Why? Because I know God is changing me even as I write. Even as I yawn. Even as I go to bed. Because, when I wake up tomorrow, I get to see Malachi. And nothing will ever quite be the same again.