Change

It's been a while since I've been here to blog, but I'm back. :)


A few weeks ago during the Memorial Day weekend, my wife, kids, and I took a much needed vacation to the Alabama Gulf Coast, a little place called Gulf Shores. If you're from Alabama, you more than likely know of this vacation getaway. Gulf Shores was, and is, a very special place to my dad, who used to live there for several years before he met my mother. Growing up, my brother and I knew if we were going on vacation, we would be going to Gulf Shores; it was a given. I hadn't been there, though, in quite some time, fifteen or sixteen years as best I can figure, probably since I was in my early 20's.


I was really amazed at how much the area had changed during the past decade and a half since I had been there. With the exception of a few buildings which were there many years ago, the area had grown exponentially and was hardly recognizable. A lot of this new look was a result of Hurricane Ivan, which came through the area in 2004. Gulf Shores, along with nearby Orange Beach, took the brunt of the storm and sustained extensive damage. However, most of what transpired three years ago has been erased, with new businesses and condos lining the beach. In fact, a couple of the motels where we used to stay are no more, casualties of the hurricane. In their places are two high-rise condos. :)


There were other changes, too. My grandparents owned a lot a couple of blocks from the beach. That's all it was...a lot...well, and a utility building to store equipment and such to maintain the property. When my folks and I used to vacation down there, we would always go by the lot. When my grandmother passed away about ten years ago, my dad inherited the property, and he has been working on his project of building a house on the lot, despite a few setbacks from Hurricane Ivan, and to a lesser extent, Hurrricane Dennis. The house was completed a few months ago, so it's a whole new world down there...


While I was down there vacationing, I was thinking about all that had changed since my last visit, and how change is inevitable. There's a saying that the "only thing that's constant is change". There'll come a day, though, when change will be no more. If we know Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord, then one day we'll reside in an unchanging place, one that's more beautiful than Gulf Shores, one unmatched in its beauty both now and forever, a wonderful place called Heaven. We'll also worship an unchanging God who will never cease to be, one who loved us before time began, one who loves us now, and one who will love us for eternity.


A lot of people believe we all go to heaven when we die, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Do you know if you'll be there? God wants you to be there, so much so He gave His only son to pay your sin debt and mine, so we can live there eternally with Him.



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