Need a Change-up?

In case you didn't know, I'm in Florida this week.  Invited by my girlfriend to stay at her family's house in Holiday Fl, I jumped at the chance.  I've always wanted to see this place, there are things here you just don't find anywhere else.  Florida is the only part of the continental United States that has an actual tropical climate.  Although it exists only in the southern region of the state, the rest of Florida is home to plants and animals not found anywhere else in the world, much less the U.S.  It's a different world down here.

The past two days, I've been geeking out over all this diversity, particularly the plant life.  My brother is very into horticulture and he's loving my reaction, because I give him grief about how it's just wrong for a man to be so involved in plants that don't produce food.  But seriously, unless you live down here, how often do you get to see mangroves forests or palm trees or any of the multitude of flora and fauna peculiar to Florida?  How does this fit in with the subject matter I usually write about here?  Funny you should ask that.  Today, as we were walking a nature trail, it dawned on me that I was more into the plant life here than I'd ever been at home.  As I examined why that might be, I realized that it was because it was all new and different.  I've seen the plants around home so much, they're old hat.  Even when I go somewhere else, plants don't interest me that much.  Mostly, I notice when they're not there.  Since I've gotten down here, it's an entirely different story.  I'm intimately interested in all kinds of plants.  After realizing it was the change in scenery that had stimulated this frenzy to see all things flora-related in Florida, I wondered if something similar would work in my walk with God.  And, if it would, how would accomplish a change of spiritual scenery? 

I think you have to shake things up in whatever way you can.  Reading something different than you normally do is a good way to start.  Even if you don't agree with it, it still helps.  Some of what I consider my best posts have come after reading something I thought was utter crap.  New ideas always get my blood pumping, positively or not.  Another idea is an actual change of scenery, especially if it's inspirational.  How many times have you gone on vacation and come back recharged?  Why can't that recharging be spiritual?  It's certainly working for me this week.  I've seen my pastor hitting a low ebb and come back from a weekend at the beach a changed person.  The change of scenery can be a religious one as well.  Working with the youth, we go to Pilgrimage every year.  Pilgrimage, for those non-Methodists among us, is a church conference youth rally.  Imagine 6000 kids all crammed into an arena with music, entertainment and speakers for an entire weekend.  Now, I'm not saying this is for everyone, but it works for me.  This year will be my 4th one and every time I come back revitalized, recharged and pumped up.  Of course, I'm not counseling you to run out and find a youth rally to attend.  If youth work is not your calling, that could be traumatic, to say the least.  But, there are other ways to change your spiritual scenery.  Different churches or different speakers will work.  Heck, you don't even need to venture outside your church.  A different Sunday School class or Bible study might do the trick.  The point is to try something new.

My new thing, until this week, has been emergent theology.  Looking at what we've been doing and how that needs to change.  Because it does, regardless what anyone says.  Without change you have stasis.  Stasis comes from a Greek word that, roughly, means standing still.  I think the medical definition applies best in this situation: a state in which the normal flow of a body liquid stops.  Think about what happens when bodily fluids stop flowing.  Nothing good, I can promise you.  Now, imagine what happens when our spiritual fluids stop flowing.  Yeah, not so hot, either.  Not to mention, there's a large degree of arrogance in refusing to consider any change.  That attitude says "We've got it all figured out.  We know exactly what God's plan is and don't need to look at other ideas".  See what I mean?  Arrogant in the extreme. 

The title of this post, "Need a Change-up", uses a baseball metaphor.  The change-up is a type of pitch, usually denoting something slower than a fastball.  It's usually thrown with the same arm motion, but has a slower velocity due to a different grip.  It was getting late last night when I chose "Need a Change-up" and, truthfully, it was just a working title.  I do that a lot, just sticking a few words in the title slot until something better comes along.  Sometimes, though, the working title is right on the money.  This is one of those times.  I realized that when I at looked at "change-up" online and saw how it actually fit.  Sort of the same, but different.  Not just going through the motions, but changing that one small thing and altering the outcome completely.  So, the next time you're feeling a little burnt out (spiritually and otherwise), change your grip and see what happens.