This week, a commentator on a radio broadcast made an
observation I had never before considered. He was speaking of the financial
crisis that America is facing, specifically in reference to policies that
certain leaders in federal government are trying to pass. In defense of their position
regarding changes to regulatory policies, one of the leaders offered that the
regulatory changes had been offered for consideration to leaders in the
industries involved. As they were
in favor of them, the nation should also be in favor of them.
The commentator offered this interesting objection to that
logic. Paraphrased, he stated:
“Consider the transportation industry of 100 years ago. Consider that the government determined the need to regulate the development of air travel, and that in the process of establishing those regulations, the regulatory commission decided to look to the transportation leaders
of the day. They would draw together the input of people who built locomotives,
ships, buses and automobiles. They
would ask them to define the regulations surrounding air travel. Each member of that community would
stand to lose business in the advent of air transport. What incentive would
they have for backing legislation that would not only aid a competitor, but backing
an industry that would antiquate their own businesses? In this scenario, current industry leaders would have
the opportunity to regulate the air industry so tightly that it would
never get
off the ground.”
The commentator applied the same logic to health care.
“If one company came up with an alternative
medical breakthrough that could cure cancer, for the government to allow the companies who make their living
selling cancer medicine to be the voice of regulation of the new procedure in
cancer research is potentially very counter productive. It takes hundreds of millions of dollars to develop medicines and often a decade to have the medicine approved for
distribution. Having a new cure
discovered before the industry’s research investment can realize a profit in the form of drugs sold is not in the best
interest of the pharmaceutical companies.”
Change requires innovative thought.
Change requires vision.
Change can require letting go of everything in order
to gain what is necessary
for the future.
The unwillingness
to embrace change eventually leads a to stagnant life. Years ago, Kodak
did not want to divide their resources and run the risk of losing their
consumer base in the industry.
Their most valued clients were those in the major motion picture industry and professional
photographers. Everyone in their customer base in is to a large degree, artistic. Most artists believe
themselves to be “purists”. Kodak
bet the farm on the belief that digital photography and video was a fad and
that the “purists” of the industry would not only reject digital media, but
would also reject any company that progressed in digital media. The stock reports told the story. Kodak lost the bet. They were in the position of having to
risk letting go of a major portion of their empire in order to build for the
future and they were unwilling to let go. Unwillingness to embrace change cost them dearly.
We are moving in the midst of a new generation. That fact is as constant as the spinning
of the earth. There is great power
in time-honored traditions. There
is great power in holding onto proven fundamental beliefs and core values. However, there is a danger when one holds onto his current status in life under the assumption that the static things are the fundamental
things or the core elements of life.
Cartographers for generations built their map trade on the
core belief that the earth was flat.
I am certain that those guys stood in opposition to the guys who began
to sell globes. We can view that
with a certain logic and even a little humor. But what happens when God wants
to take our “flat life” and “round it out?” People often declare that they want
to go to new levels. They want to be on the cutting edge. They forget that the
cutting edge may cause them to sail off the end of the earth. Christopher
Columbus was so short-handed for a crew that he wound up with a ship full of
criminals who opted for the unknown and possible oblivion I lieu of a known
lifetime of imprisonment. Ol’
Chris understood that to be the cutting edge meant sailing to the edge. He
could fall off the planet in the middle of the night, taking not only his life,
but also those in his charge. He
risked everything, not just comfortable things. His motley crew could, and some eventually did mutiny,
taking from his hand much of the resources he had left
for the journey. Yet something inside of him said,
“History
hasn’t figured it out. There is more than what you are seeing and living.”
Even being proven wrong was to risk and
likely end all he had worked for.
Everything was on the line.
To truly move forward with God means embracing change. God
doesn’t change, but He changes us. The earth continually changes and to walk in
it as He decreed, we have to recognize those changes and be in front of them.
There is a generation that is dying. There is a people looking for the airplane
in an automobile world. God is
looking for the innovators – for those who can recognize how to maintain the
core values and beliefs while offering them in ways that are fresh and
attainable to the new generation. He is looking for the warriors who will lay
it on the line to lead a generation toward Him.
The season ahead will require several changes. Some of them will be seem minor. Others
will seem major. All of them will require those who embrace them to consider
what they will hold onto and what they will release as a seed toward a better
future.
Such change will require innovation. It will require a people courageous
enough to reconsider how they present the gospel. It will require those who
will re-evaluate what is really value and even how they will live life. It will
require people for whom the true fundamentals will remain; for whom core
beliefs are established and not changed or threatened by method. It will require a people who are
unwilling to live by the status-quo of their current life –for whom the
“flat-life” is not acceptable. God
is looking for a people who can wrap their minds around His “globe” His world.
He is looking for a people who will embrace change.
