Change Is The Christian Life

June 11, 2025

Before heading out West a few summers back, I carefully mapped out every detail of our trip—daily mileage, routes and highways, overnight campgrounds, and all the must-see sights along the way. Deb even turned our schedule into an Excel spreadsheet and laminated it for easy reference. But as often happens with travel, our carefully crafted plans didn’t last long.

The first curveball came on the day our kids—Nate and his wife Anna, along with Matthew and his girlfriend Nicole—were scheduled to fly out and meet us in Rapid City, South Dakota. Their flight was delayed. Then delayed again. And again. They ended up spending the entire day stuck at the airport.

Eventually, they managed to rebook flights with different airlines. Instead of arriving at 10 AM as planned, they didn’t land in Rapid City until 7:30 that evening.

While they navigated the airport terminals, Deb and I were busy on our phones, trying to salvage the schedule. One of the biggest concerns was a special moment we had planned—renewing our vows after 32 years of marriage at the Chapel in the Hills, a replica of a beautiful Norwegian Church. The ceremony had been scheduled for 1 PM that day. Thankfully, we were able to reschedule for the next day so the kids could be part of it.  

To make it all work, we extended our stay at one campground, shifted reservations at another, and canceled a third. We also made the difficult decision to cut the next day’s planned stops: Little Bighorn, Pictograph State Park, and Billings, Montana.

Once the logistics were settled, Deb and I decided to make the most of our unexpected free time. We returned to the scenic area near Custer State Park, kept the Jeep for another day, and drove the Iron Mountain Road—part of the breathtaking Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway I’ve written about before. We passed through tunnels that perfectly framed Mount Rushmore and ended the day with dinner at South Dakota’s oldest brewery, a historic firehouse turned restaurant filled with character.

And for me, the cherry on top—we made it to Dinosaur Park.

I’ve always had a love for dinosaurs. Growing up, I was fascinated by the towering figures at Dinosaur Land near Front Royal, Virginia—a place I still enjoy visiting. Some of my favorite memories are of watching classic dinosaur movies with my dad, a tradition I’ve carried on by collecting them myself. Films like One Million Years B.C., King Kong, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, and my personal favorite, The Valley of Gwangi, still bring a sense of wonder every time I watch them.

That’s why visiting Dinosaur Park in South Dakota was such a thrill. As one of the first dinosaur parks ever built in the United States, it felt like stepping into a piece of both childhood nostalgia and roadside Americana history.

Built in 1936, Dinosaur Park is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time of its construction, paleontology was still a relatively young science. Archaeologists were actively unearthing new fossils and slowly piecing together what dinosaurs may have actually looked like. The models at the park reflect that early stage of discovery—imaginative, a bit whimsical, and wildly different from what we know today.

The park features just seven dinosaurs, including an Apatosaurus, a Triceratops, a Stegosaurus, and a Tyrannosaurus rex that looks like it might have auditioned for a role in Toy Story. Up near the gift shop…where I found the perfect quirky souvenir for my niece—a chunk of fossilized dinosaur poop—stands a ridiculously model of a Dimetrodon. With its oversized sail and toothy grin, it looks like something straight out of a science fiction comic. Easily my favorite of the bunch.

That evening, the kids finally arrived, and we picked them up just in time to head to Mount Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony—a moving tribute to our country and its veterans.

Throughout the rest of the trip, there were plenty more changes to our plans, but we learned to navigate them with grace. Over time, we realized there was no need to get frustrated or upset when something we had carefully planned didn’t work out. More often than not, what replaced it turned out to be an unexpected blessing—something we never could’ve scheduled ourselves.

Looking back, it became clear that many of the most meaningful moments from our trip came from those disruptions. Without the changes, we would’ve missed them entirely.

And isn’t that just like our journey of faith? God often leads us through detours—not to disappoint us, but to transform us. As we follow Him, even through the unexpected, we are shaped more and more into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ—renewed, blessed, and made new.

Ken Houts writes in his book Maximize Your Influence: “The constant on the journey is change. The goal of the journey is change. The purpose of the journey is change. When you are changing, you are the salt of the earth. When you stop changing, you become stagnant with no dynamic life, and you are tasteless.”

Change is not just a part of the Christian life—it is the Christian life. The apostles and the early church quickly learned that following Christ meant embracing transformation: changes in hearts, in traditions, in how the Gospel was shared, and in who the Gospel was for. Again and again, God called them to take detours—redirecting them for a greater purpose.

The book of Acts gives us a front-row seat to this kind of divine change. The early church is thriving—Peter preaches boldly and God adds to their number daily. But with growth comes transformation, and that change begins deep within.

1. God Calls Us to Change Our Hearts

In Acts 8, we see the importance of personal transformation. Change isn’t just about our circumstances—it’s about our inner lives. God won’t pour new blessings into old wineskins. Our hearts must be willing to change so we can receive what God longs to give us.

We meet Simon the Sorcerer, a man who had amazed the people of Samaria with his magic. He comes to believe in Jesus and is baptized. But belief alone isn’t the end of the journey—it’s only the beginning. When Simon sees the apostles laying hands on new believers and the Holy Spirit coming upon them, he offers to buy this power: “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:19).

Peter’s rebuke is swift and sharp: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!... Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord... For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin” (Acts 8:20-23).

Simon’s heart, though baptized, was still bound by sin—by selfishness, greed, and the desire for power. His story is a mirror for us all. We are called to look inward, to confront what still clings to our old selves, and to allow God to change us from the inside out. With every surrender comes a new and unexpected blessing.

2. God Calls Us to Change Our Direction

Sometimes, God doesn’t just change our hearts—He changes our route. Acts 8 tells the story of Philip, who was asked by God to leave what he was doing and take a detour into the desert: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ So, he started out…” (Acts 8:26-27).

Philip obeys, not knowing why. Along that dusty road, he meets an Ethiopian eunuch—a royal official reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip explains the Scriptures and shares the Gospel. The eunuch believes, is baptized, and takes the message of Jesus back to his homeland.

Philip’s detour becomes divine destiny. What might God do through our willingness to change course?

3. God Calls Us to Change Everything

No story illustrates radical transformation more powerfully than Saul’s conversion in Acts 9. Saul was a man on a mission to destroy the church, persecuting followers of Jesus with zeal and violence. Paul writes, “As he neared Damascus... suddenly a light from heaven flashed... He fell to the ground and heard a voice say... ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’” (Acts 9:3-4).

Blinded by the encounter, Saul is led to Damascus, where God sends Ananias—a reluctant but obedient disciple—to restore his sight and fill him with the Holy Spirit, and “Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes... He got up and was baptized” (Acts 9:18).

Just a few verses later, the same man who had hunted Christians begins preaching boldly that Jesus is the Son of God. His turnaround is miraculous, total, and life-altering. Saul’s name would soon become Paul, and he would go on to write much of the New Testament and spread the Gospel across the known world.

God didn’t just redirect Saul—He remade him.

As Max Lucado writes: “God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way… He wants you to be just like Jesus.”

Accepting Christ is just the beginning. Christ enters our hearts and begins a lifelong work of transformation. He cleans house—removing the clutter of bad habits, selfish motives, and worldly attachments—so we can live freely and serve fully.

A. Harnish, in his book You Only Have to Die, puts it this way:

The transformation God would perform in us would go all the way to the heart of our identity... The angelic command to the women at the tomb on the first resurrection morning was, ‘Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see Him.’ The Risen Christ is always out ahead of his disciples calling them to join him along the road that leads to the future...The decisive moment in the process is when we stop asking God to bless what we are already doing and start asking God to allow us to become a part of what God is already blessing.

Isn’t it ironic that while God is always changing us, He Himself never changes?

The psalmist declares, “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalm 2:12).

The early church trusted Him. Even through persecution, uncertainty, and detours, they listened for His voice. They followed where He led. And because they embraced change, they were never the same.

Neither will we be—if we are willing to go where He calls, surrender what we cling to, and let Him make all things new.

Life often brings seasons of hardship, trials, and unexpected challenges.The detours that God sends us on don’t look like this:

God’s detours in our lives look more like this:

Ron Lee Davis once wrote, “In this life we will encounter hurts and trials that we will not be able to change; we are just going to have to allow them to change us.”

That truth echoed loudly during our trip out West. There were things beyond our control—flights were canceled, roads were washed out, and plans had to be scrapped. No amount of effort could change those circumstances.

So instead, we allowed those moments to change us—our expectations, our schedule, even our vision for the journey ahead. And in surrendering control, we were blessed in beautiful, unexpected ways we never could have planned ourselves.

Change is one of the few constants in life. Detours are inevitable. But we must remember this: God is bigger than any change we face. He walks with us down every unexpected road, guiding us with purpose and grace.

In fact, He has already prepared the way ahead.

In Jeremiah 29:11, God reminds us: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

So, open your heart to the changes God is leading you through. Welcome the detours. Trust Him fully.

His plans are not just good—they are better than anything we could ever design ourselves.