Why do we resist change – especially as we get older?  Admit it.  It seems to be the way of the world.

But the other way of the world is that a change is gonna come.  It’s inevitable.  Today, in this next hour, things will change in your and my life.  My day will not go as planned.  This year will not shake out the way I now want it to.  Our company, Watchfire Music, will, of necessity, change its direction or fail.  Yours will too.

The world will change.  Haitis will happen.  Somebody, some thing will come along and the course of history will meander off in another direction or sudden and monumental change will affect us all suddenly and monumentally.  The unexpected will happen.

Are we ready for it?  Never.  It comes with the territory.  That’s the nature of change.  We’re never fully ready.  Oh we can plan, but plan for what?  If we plan for it, it will change.  Then we’ll have to change our plans.

We’ll have to punt.  The punter on a football team is usually the least respected player – after all, he just kicks the ball.  He doesn’t score points; he’s rarely the best athlete on the team.  A punter has never made it to the NFL Hall of Fame.

The punter comes in when the team has to change direction.  They’ve run out of time, out of yards, out of plays.  They have to give up momentarily and punt – agree to switch from offense to defense, to revamp their plans because it wasn’t going like they thought it should.

Without a good punter a team is doomed.  In the moments of change, of the major turning points, he’s The One.  Yet he’s never the star of the team.  Most normal fans don’t even know who their team’s punter is.  You might go as far as saying he’s not very popular.

Let’s face it.  Punting is not popular.  We resist it.

Why do we resist change?  We spend our whole lives trying to get in control of our lives.  Control our schedules, our food intake, our exercise output, our energies, our destinies, our relationships, even our rest and relaxation.

We feel better when we’re in control.  Nothing so wrong with that.  I’m not talking about being a control freak here – just setting up life so that we can live the expected.

As we get older and figure things out a little better, most of us get better at controlling our destinies.  We buy a house – a more permanent place to come home to.  We buy a car – a more dependable ride through life.  We get married – theoretically a settling influence in our relationships.  We earn more money – so we can plan ahead.  We buy insurance – a bet against ourselves in case drastic change comes.

In short, we become complacent – and work very hard to do so.

We slide into our routines and balance the boredom with what?  Think about it.  We balance the boredom with change.

A change is gonna come.  When I started writing this post a half hour ago, I had no idea I was going to write about punting.  I had outlined the post in my mind earlier, but hadn’t really considered the punt, but knew I needed a good example so I trusted that I would come up with one in the course of the writing experience.  I trusted that things would change.

When punting came along, I eagerly went off in that direction to see where that would take me and now I’m trying to wind this to a close so that I’m not too long winded.

A change is gonna come – in the next 3 seconds, in the next hour, today, tomorrow.  I won’t be ready for it.  It’ll catch me by surprise.

But I shall try to embrace it.  Embrace the unexpected.  Stay open to it.  Watch for where God wants me to go.

I shall try to embrace the change, and not resist it.

Let’s give it a shot.

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and information about Peter Link, please visit Watchfire Music.