Six weeks back we started a short intermittent series on Annals of the Former World by John McPhee. This book stretches my mind and faith, in healthy ways. Three weeks ago we examined “Six Days of Creation,” where David Brower shoehorned 4.5 billion years into six days of creation. I’m amazed at how long the process took before people arrived, let alone Jesus, now let’s look at the more recent speed of change.
The Appalachian Mountains formed 400 million years back, the equivalent of 12:38 PM Saturday. Fast forward to 9:46 PM, when the Rockies arrived. Then the Industrial Revolution arrived 1/40 of a second before midnight, or in our terms, in 1793 with the first grain mill. Before that, 80% of Americans made their livings as farmers. By 1900, that dropped to 50%, 12% by 1950, now it’s only 2 percent. In 1869, the driving of the Golden Spike completed America’s first transcontinental railroad. 100 years later man walked on the moon. In that century, Salt Lake City and Reno moved six feet apart.
This recent speed of change boggles my mind. My dad was born in 1904, a few attempts are cars had been made, but the Model T that changed the game came in 1908. No one dreamed they would take over personal transportation. The Wright brothers’ flight of 12 seconds and 20 ft. in height and 120 ft. in distance in 1903 led to crossing the continent in hours. Dad lived to see both happen, including the moon landing, but never could have conceived of personal computers and cell phones and Siri.
Our rate of technological change astounds me, now we have the burgeoning arrival of AI, or artificial intelligence, sometimes used to create realistic videos of pornography featuring innocent people. What comes next? Elon Musk is implanting devices in brains, “Our brain-computer interface is fully implantable, cosmetically invisible, and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go,” according to Neuralink's website. Maybe a little concerned about what that can lead to? Add cultural change to the mix.
This post isn’t intended to be a scare tactic, but to help us all realize, from a human perspective, that change is the only constant in life. Yes, it increases. Yes, maybe past days were better, but they have passed and we cannot, we should not, live in them. We live in the present, and shape some of the future change.
But how do followers of Christ deal with this increased rate of change? We lean on the one true constant in life: God, as Father and Son. It a world of shifting values and behaviors, we have a consistent, unchanging, bedrock foundation.
“I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Kick Starting the Application
What unchanging aspects of our unchanging God most comfort you? His unconditional love? His patient forgiveness? His strong justice? His plans for us? What other traits? Maybe this week, focus on one of them as you ponder our constant God.