P-I-V-O-T!

Living in a 100+ year old home has taught me about perspective.

Since mid-November the following unplanned home projects have occurred:

• 40 year old furnace finally died and we had to replace it.

• Chimney liner work could not be completed post furnace installation because our water heater was the wrong size. (Don’t ask me to explain.)

• Home plumbing project restarted which included at least a dozen trips to Lowe’s (with still more to come I’m sure).

• New water heater installed

• Purchase of a used (but well made) armoire and the awkward attempts to move it from the truck to the sidewalk, to the porch and the failed attempts up the stairs to our bedroom. (Imagine the “Friends” PIVOT scene.) It’s currently located near the front door until we can figure out how to disassemble it and reassemble it upstairs.

• Extensive and amusing search for remote control inside the couch (not just between the cushions) and the discovery of other lost treasures!

Perhaps this all sounds a bit stressful to you. I definitely had my moments, but I also learned that in a season of transition, pivoting can change your perspective for the better.

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: the action of pivoting

especially : the action in basketball of stepping with one foot while keeping the other foot at its point of contact with the floor

: a usually marked change

especially : an adjustment or modification made (as to a product, service, or strategy) in order to adapt or improve

We are in the last week of January. How have you had to pivot? What adjustments or modifications have you made in your life to adapt or improve? Something unexpected has happened, so we have to approach it from a different perspective than the one that was moving us forward.

This is not easy.

As I consider my word for this year, “Restore,” it pivots my perspective of these unplanned house projects:

• Heat was RESTORED in my very old house after the 40 year old furnace was replaced.

• Plumbing project restarted which RESTORED full water pressure to the house.

• We RESTORED hope that we can find lost items in our home with the extensive and amusing search for the remote control and the discovery of other lost treasures!

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The leadership in the U.S. transitioned last week and it was a marked change that required adjustments. Even with the separation of church and state in governing (at least that is what it is supposed to be), an Inauguration worship service remains a tradition. Politicians are welcomed into the house of the LORD because they are people who need to hear God’s Word and receive forgiveness just like the rest of us.

Again and again we say that the Bible is one of the more controversial books ever written. And Bishop Budde reminded us of that as she spoke on behalf of the voiceless and of the mercy and love of Jesus Christ.

Yet, I was disappointed by fellow Christians and their response to her Christ-like words. This passage I heard in worship this weekend sums it up quite well.

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. - Galatians 1:6-10 NIV

As followers of Jesus, we are grounded in the sacrificial love that changed the world. It’s an invitation for all, regardless of class, loyalty, or nationality. We keep one foot firm in God’s love, while our other foot dodges the temptation to please people, seek power, and control others. In fact, to follow Jesus and lead like him, we must focus on serving others. That is definitely counter cultural to what the world says is the path to success.

As you approach the next minute, hour, day, week or month, how will you pivot your thinking? How can you speak God’s Word unapologetically, especially for the least of these? How can you serve your neighbor?