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Sudden Change

  • June 21, 2023
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” – Hebrews 13:8

I was recently blessed with the opportunity to have dinner with former University of Michigan Men’s Basketball Coach John Beilein. It was a wonderful conversation. John was welcoming of our questions and open with sharing his thoughts and insights on basketball, Michigan, coaching, faith, and life in general. It was one of the best evenings and most intriguing conversations I’ve had in a while.

One topic that was discussed was the plane crash that John and his team survived back in 2017 on their way to the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. In the moments before the plane was about to take off from the runway, the pilot felt something was wrong with the aircraft and decided to abort the takeoff. This led to the plane sliding off the runway and finally coming to rest after several hundred harrowing feet. Thankfully, the most serious physical injury sustained was a cut leg that required a few stitches to close. With that established, the team was faced with another, less important challenge; the decision of whether they would attempt to board another plane the next day to participate in the tournament.

At our table, John was asked how he approached the task of gauging the team’s ability to handle the situation. He spoke of a concept that he credited to former Michigan Football Coach Bo Schembechler called “Sudden Change.” In football, sometimes a play will happen that takes your defense from sitting on the sideline catching their breath to lining up on your goal line to prevent a touchdown in an instant. That’s a sudden change. Bo and his coaching staff worked to build a culture that when these situations happened, you called out the phrase and knew what was expected. This helped to prepare the players for this radical change with a sense of calm and toughness as opposed to fearing the situation. Coach Beilein said his staff adopted this same “Sudden Change” approach to adverse situations in their program, so it wasn’t surprising when the kids were encouraging one another with the words “Sudden Change” in the aftermath of the accident. This culture, according to John, was the biggest factor in his entire team getting back on a plane the next morning, flying to the tournament, and eventually winning four straight games to end the week as tournament champions as the 8th seeded team.

Sudden changes are not only found in sports, nor do they require the level of severity of being on a crashing plane. Our lives are filled with unexpected events and plans that go awry. These changes can evoke a myriad of responses – exasperation over a vacation lost due to an emergency, anger over the theft of something valuable, or fear for the health of a loved one facing a medical crisis. These circumstances, along with thousands of other examples that could be given, are common and cause us to adjust our plans, our thinking, and in some cases our way of life. Just explaining this universal truth is a sobering reminder of the tumultuous and fragile nature of life. So, the big question isn’t whether we’ll experience these sudden changes in our lives. It hinges on how we endure the moment, process the impact, and ultimately respond in a manner that shows growth and maturity.

It’s at this moment that the world says to rely upon yourself: your experiences, your knowledge, and your strength. That’s one way to approach it, and the world may even offer a few strategies that may prove helpful. That said, what if we could rely upon something that is bigger than the world? Someone who knows the world and all its intricacies because He created the world and everything in it. How much more reliable would that be? How much more confidence would this instill in you as you face sudden changes in life? The fact of the matter is that this is already available to us.

Out of the depths of His great love for us, God has already provided us with this access. Our omnipotent Heavenly Father has provided for us unlimited access to Him and His power through prayer. We have the assurance of our salvation through the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is described in the words of Hebrews 13:8 as being “the same yesterday and today and forever.” He is constant, consistent, and unfailing. He gives us comfort and builds our faith through His Holy Spirit, giving us strength to overcome and thrive. We have also been given the gifts of God’s word in the Bible to guide our lives as we strive to build a culture within the Kingdom that supports us individually and as a church as we experience sudden change.

No matter how uncertain our circumstances may be, it is my prayer that we come to know the power and feel the hope that is freely provided by an unchanging God.

 

Devotion by Richard Schumacher

Senior Director of Operations