Times are changing…

Again…

Recently returning from what today would be considered a type of “CrossFit” gym south of here of which I am a lifetime member… I was tired…

In my own vernacular, it is more accurately described as a “farm”… the same one that has been a part of my family since the mid 1930’s… bringing the wheelbarrow to the Chevy, I wheeled three loads of wood and rock procured from “the gym” and unloaded at the fire pit…

After putting seed and water out for my birds and other critters and pinching off a few leaves and buds from the peppermint I headed in to prepare some tea…

Waiting for the water to reach temperature, I glanced at an old black and white picture of my grandfather from year’s ago…. He was setting on an early model steel tractor that had only rubber tires on the front. The rear wheels were iron with steel lugs, with a sickle mower in tow…

the mower was originally intended to be pulled by horses, with the farmer setting on the seat controlling the mower’s sickle at the end of the rows… however the horses now enjoying retirement in the tall pasture grass, it was converted to be pulled by the tractor and in this photo his youngest son was setting in the seat…

Moving to the fire pit with a book and tea in hand, I sat back to enjoy the glow of the fire, read and sip… as the tea came to an end, a thought formed as I closed the book and my eyes…

The fireflies began putting on their nightly show, the birds making their last calls and traffic slowed to allow the sound of silence…

Changing Times

Thinking about the picture brought back a flood of memories… after grandfather passed away my father pulled the mower with his tractor… and I was the rider…

I remembered a time in my childhood when grandfather and I were taking a break under the shade tree… I asked him why the horses didn’t pull the mower anymore? … his answer was, “times are changing boy, you have to change with them, or you get left behind…” pretty insightful for a farmer with only a fifth grade education…

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." — Søren Kierkegaard

Granted, there were more modern tractors and mowers at that time, but the horses were ready for part time work, grandfather had come through the depression, and was used to making due with what he had… in this case, a farmer’s ingenuity and a son…

The Road to Now…

Pausing, I rearranged the wood, added another stick and sat back down… “times are changing boy”… I thought about that for a moment, as I mouthed the words “yes they are”…

They always have, and in spite of the initial uneasiness, fears and adjustments in the economy that the change makes, it finally takes root and we wondered how it became possible so quickly…

In my great grandmothers day, she told of in spite of the difficulties, how they were thankful for the horses and covered wagons that helped move her family from the east coast to become some of the first settlers in the expanding Midwest… how then just a few years later there was talk about, and then actual automobiles that began replacing the horse and wagon, and the newspaper began to have a competitor in the 1920’s… called radio broadcasts…

In grandfather’s day as a young adult, although the model T’s and A’s were well under way, as well as other farm and construction equipment, he initially stuck to the old ways… a two bottom plow, disc, planter and cultivator pulled by two Percheron horses… why… partially I believe, due to resisting the change and a desire to maintain the old ways… but mostly with eleven children to feed, he didn’t have another option… he farmed this way at least until the early 1950’s…

Initially, I thought how dramatically things have changed… but as I dwelled on it more, ironically I believe it really is mostly the same…

The faces, the machines, and the new ideas are much different, technologically advanced, and faster… but the driving force and reasoning behind it all is still the same when you get right down to it… in my humble opinion.

“make it better, faster and easier for man to accomplish more in less time, so that we have more time for ourselves, our desires and work less and potentially “retire” early…

As great grandma explained to me, people were saying the same thing when engine powered cars and machines began replacing the horses… “think how much time we will save by being able to get places faster…”

She then chuckled as if recalling a memory, saying how in spite of the time it might have saved by driving, it cost twice as much time and money, in paying for and maintaining the vehicle… sounds familiar

And as my wise old Sage of a grandfather used to say, “at least with the horse, it’s cheaper to feed and you get beneficial output”… or today we might call it a good ROI

The Current Era

As we navigate the current Information Age, it feels like wading a swollen river, carefully as to not get caught in the strong current…

It’s many things today… job losses in administration, office and clerk positions, telemarketing, as well as creative and analytical roles all are being replaced by technology and AI.

Although it is affecting many people, in many professions, and many are concerned, the ones seeming to be affected and talking about it the most understandably are the ones in technology circles…

I don’t work in the field and have absolutely no expertise, but from an outsider perspective it seems the very thing that has been created is now beginning to replace the ones who have previously done the work…

Building it from the ground up, by hard work, hard knocks and the sweat of their brows, many it is made to seem, will face a coming day in which the “work horses”are again being replaced by the faster, more sleek, and increasingly sophisticated new agents and machines…

Conclusion

As with all new eras in our world, the changes that come with them bring curiosity, trepidation and fear… understandably so…

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

— Matthew 6:25

As with anything that produces these feelings, I both generally and as a Christ follower, must consider how will I respond… will I,

• Create a new path in my backyard with my pacing

• Just retreat to my cave and pretend it’s not happening, or

• Roll up the sleeves on this well worn flannel, after daily time in Gods Word, sincere prayer and head off to work and seek to be the light God has called His followers to…

It’s not easy, instinctively I want to explain it away, laugh it off, or just get angry at times… naturally…

As a Christ follower though, looking past what my sin nature wants so desperately to cling to, I will trust in Him to provide and guide through both the light and the darkness…

The times are changing for sure, and really they always have been and will continue to… until Christ returns… and He said He would…

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

— John 14:3

So in these rapidly changing times, consider the claims of Christ if you haven’t… if you have and believe, keep your ultimate focus on the most important “Thing”… in the end it’s all that really matters…

They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

— Acts 1:11

Until next time my friends,

Raj