Rather than turn on the TV and get the latest Radical Muslim daily
terrorist count, that your president denies, or turn on HGTV and find out how
old and outdated my 30 year old house is, I took my own advice yesterday and put
on Forever Changes after getting out of the shower. And for the next 42+
minutes while deciding where to ride, I was taken on a mystical trip and an
instant memory sound experience of how good that album really is. So while
listening I Googled it and found out some interesting facts about it. Neil
Young produced it, but never showed up for the meeting, and was never heard from
again. And not credited. And Bruce Botnick who later that year would produce
the first Doors album finished it, using the same skills on FC for the Doors.
Listen to Hugh Masakela playing trumpet on the album, try whistling his trumpet
solo on “Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale.”
That man could toot his own horn. The first song on side 2 for all you vinyl
buffs. Try to whistle that long-WOW! And many other non-credited local LA
musicians played also, on loan from other bands, under the radar of their
contract to other labels. Friends playing with friends-what a novel thought.
And only to find out that Billboard named it the 40th best album of the best 500
albums of all time. And yet most have never heard of it....maybe you are what a
Mr. John Lennon from Liverpool once referred to as “trendy,” and great music has
never been trendy.
Long before David Bowie became a household name, his Honky Dory was a hit
across the pond. And today his famous song “Changes” can be heard as background
music, on TV commercials, and now you will be whistling it as you remember it.
“Time may change me, but I can’t change time...”
But look at all the changes in your life. Life is constantly changing, in
fact the Second Law of Thermodynamics proves it-things are in a constant state
of atrophy-of change. They are not getting better, or evolving, a theory that
this law disproves, but getting worse. One trip through the book of Genesis
shows how God made this world perfect, sin entered, and it has only gotten
worse. Unless you are the White House Press Corp, that is reality. Not a
social experiment. And we all get old and die. Even the Bible is split into
two Testaments or covenants, a contract with no ending date-aka forever. The
one Jesus made with us, and asks us to verify with him. But what got my
attention was reading about the title “Forever Changes,” and where it came
from. Not some idyllic drug induced fantasy, or even a nostalgic trip ahead,
but it was taken from a break-up. It seems a friend had been in a long term
relationship with a girl, and he broke it off. “But you promised me you’d love
me forever,” she begged through the tears. “Yeah, well forever changes...” And
the beat goes on. And the truth is forever changes when you become a
Christian.
Romans tells us we are all sinners, born into it, and cannot escape it
without Jesus. We fall short, and our destiny upon the first birth has us bound
for hell. But our eternal destiny, our forever changes when we come to Christ.
Not a theory to be debated, not a philosophical view to be expounded upon, but
truth. A truth that we all will face some time in our life, when the final
Jeopardy answer will be Jesus. And the correct question is “who is the son of
God?” And we will be changed forever in the twinkling of an eye, some
1/240,000th of a second. There I did it again to show you how quick. And we
are changed from the inside out, not the outside in. And that change grants us
entrance to heaven, an escape from hell. I am glad that that is one forever
change in my life. Yet we steadfastly fight change throughout the in between
times here on earth, until we die and go to heaven or hell.
Change is everywhere, styles change, prices change, the stock market
changes, the Broncos changed coaches, and I don’t even have any spare change.
And even though we are told that there is no growth without change, we resist.
Stuck in a perpetual this is as good as it gets syndrome, and we are faced with
“yeah, well forever changes.” For many that breakup spells disaster, for some
it spurs them on to better things. Some look back, some plan ahead, some sit
and ponder, and some just wonder what has happened and what is happening. Only
in Christ will the changes be real, and he orders each one of them. Only on the
MAP settings on the new Tiger I am riding can you default back to where the
factory set it up. But after personalizing your ride, why would you want to?
You see Jesus knows just where you are right now, and has a plan for you to be
of benefit or blessing no matter where you are. Some of the worst conditions
have brought the biggest blessings in my life, yet I pray to avoid the tough
times, the tests, the trials. Yet in the midst of them is where Jesus shines
brightest....and advises us to be losers! Lose your life, and your sin, and
become a winner in him. See we all qualify. But it takes that forever change,
that being born again to do it. Nicodemus had a problem understanding it, yet
the thief on the cross readily embraced it. We can becomes hoarders of things
including false beliefs, or we can be like Father Abraham, who by faith
believed. He gave it all up and moved on to a land he had never seen, but was
promised. And lest I remind you he was less than perfect, so we all have a
chance, his name is Jesus. My motorcycles, my Nikes, my cars, and my vinyl
records all wear out. And without change so will I. The clock is ticking,
today can be the day your forever changes, and your eternal forever guaranteed
in Christ. Just a little faith, a little trust, and he does the rest. A new
covenant where forever never ends, and you won’t want it to. Where time becomes
timeless, and forever is an eternal right now. Jesus Christ changes lives, but
only if you let him. There is no jihad from heaven, he gives us a free will to
choose. We can say no, but why when we can say yes and have it all? And in the
down times, the in between times when we feel the pressures rising, remember
that he loves us, and promises to stay....forever. No breakups, no game ending
clock running out. Jesus changes our forever forever. No expiration date.
When we become born again.
I think I can find another 42+ minutes this morning, the news will have to
wait. Eternity is calling, and I’m answering. What your answer is will dictate
a forever change.....in the beginning God....so loved the world he sent his only
begotten son. I hope that the day of your forever change is today. And then go
tell someone...
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com