I think perhaps the best plan is to get your info from a variety of sources, and thoroughly inspect those sources.

Blake, wise words. Change for the sake of change tends to just chase after style at the expense of substance. And I appreciated the way you talked about taking “smart risk” prayerfully. Thanks for weighing in.

Joe, I think you’re the one who originally showed me Wikipedia many years ago. One thing I love about that site, is the communal nature of it. People can edit and change, but they are held accountable by a tribe. It’s a fascinating social experiment, thanks for pointing out it strengths to us.

I manage change for a large corporation and can say with certainty, “it” is always with us

Your article is interesting, especially in the context of your current series. In my experience, to “never follow/indorse change” demonstrates a lack of the ability to take risk, and to “always follow/indorse change” is a demonstration of ignorance. Likewise, you don’t want to blindly follow change, because you will often be humbled, nor do you want to refuse change out of fear and ignorance, because you will quickly lose credibility.

The real fun with change, however, is that sometimes you don’t know about a change. Be thankful for the change you are aware of in advance, in these we are afforded the luxury of pro-action. Change occurring in our unawareness, however, can elicit knee-jerk emotionally-laden and often unintentional reactions.

The key is seeing the change for what it is, something that is out of our control. [Unless we are discussing self-change, even then there is a question of control] The relationship between control and change is for the most part orthogonal. Sure, there is a change from time to time with which we have the illusion of control, and things go as expected, and we are none-the-wiser. These changes can be the scariest. Because where change and control diverge, illusions and assumptions unite. Danger is always in the assumptions.

This is why it’s important to give change its due diligence, whether before or after the fact. Care must be taken in determining what a change means and how it currently applies. We must always ask ourselves, “what are we assuming?” We must think clearly before we take action. Sometimes change requires swift action and sometimes it requires no action, but it never requires no acknowledgement.

So what must we do?

This is where I believe our communication venue with God is so important, since we are not afforded the magnificence of infinite wisdom, seeking his involvement is imperative. With respect to change, we need His wisdom, we need His control, and we need His intervention. We are all used to praying the “Dear Lord I can’t control this, please change it” prayer, but how often do we pray the “Dear Lord I can’t change it, please control it” prayer?

So this leads me to one of my favorite “divergences of control and change” moments from one of my favorite historical leaders General George S. Patton where he demonstrates his need for the Lord to control:
“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.”

I digress. So, to your point… the world is changing. Yup, it is, and it always will be. Deal with it. Prayerfully.

– Blake

I think it’s hilarious that this video about the impact of social media uses “Right Here, Right Now” as a soundtrack, when it was recorded in the last century! Maybe it should be “Somewhere, sometime.”

One of the things I think is very overblown is the comparison of social media to the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution (which is really just a handy way of lumping many societal and technological changes together) changed how people worked, produced goods in quantities and in quality that had never before been done, moved entire populations from farms to towns and cities, essentially created the middle class, etc., etc. Social media doesn’t stand a chance of having that kind of impact.