Be A Blessing Series

Some time ago (August 2001), I received an e-mail from a friend which gave Sandy and me both a good laugh. It contained a poem, entitled A Poem for Computer Users over 30. I thought you might enjoy it.

A COMPUTER was something on TV

From a science fiction show of note

A WINDOW was something you hated to clean

And RAM was the cousin of a goat.

MEG was the name of my girlfriend

And GIG was a job for the nights

Now they all mean different things

And that really MEGA BYTES.

An APPLICATION was for employment

A PROGRAM was a TV show

A CURSOR used profanity

A KEYBOARD was a piano.

LOG ON was adding wood to the fire

HARD DRIVE was a long trip on the road

A MOUSE PAD was where a mouse lived

And BACKUP happened to your commode.

CUT you did with a pocket knife

And PASTE you did with glue

A WEB was a spider's home

And a VIRUS was a flu.

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper

And the MEMORY in my head

I hear nobody's been killed in a COMPUTER CRASH

But when it happens they wish they were dead. (forwarded by Gabe Combs)

My, how things have changed in just a few short years, but that's life! Life is full of changes. Our vocabulary is changing. Every cell in your body is changing! People change jobs, and churches change pastors. Life is full of change.

The problem is very few people like change. Mark Twain put it well when he said, "The only person who likes change is a wet baby."

The question is: How do we handle the change? How do we manage the change so as to end up better off? How do we make change our friend?

Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 12, Genesis 12, where we have the story of a man about to make a big change in his life.

Genesis 12:1-3 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Now, this is commonly called the Abrahamic Covenant. It is God's promise to Abraham of land, seed, and blessing, which forms the foundation for the rest of the Old Testament.

It's a very important promise, but I want you to notice the two imperatives contained in this promise. There are two commands that activated the promise and changed the entire course of human history. They are two commands, which helped Abraham face that change, and I believe will help us face the changes ahead of us today.

The first command is found in verse 1, where God tells Abraham, "Leave your country." It's the call of God to…

GO FORTH!

Leave the known. Leave the familiar for the unknown and the unfamiliar. That's exactly what god told Abraham to do (vs.1). Go forth from your country -- leave its wealth and affluence. Go forth from your relatives -- leave the people you know and love. Go forth from your father's house -- leave even your own family! "Leave it all for a land I will show you," God said. "Leave the known. Leave the familiar for the unknown and the unfamiliar," and Abraham did it!

Genesis 12:4-9 So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. (NIV)

Even though he was 75 years old at the time, Abraham left the familiar for the unfamiliar, and that's what God calls us to do sometimes. Matthew Henry put it this way: "Our country is dear to us, our kindred dearer, and our father's house dearest of all, and yet they all must be hated."