“Flexing and Fluxing” i.e. Constant Change > We are always in motion. As the old saying goes, you CANNOT step in the same river twice. Just try it. I woke at 4:30 a.m. with a thought, and that thought kept growing. As it grew, I knew I would need to write some notes down or they would flow away from me like the river I speak of. But I had been sound asleep and was still very tired. I did not want to move. I did not want to CHANGE.

So I lay there not moving. We are creatures of motion by design, given no choice about that. How long can you maintain a state of not moving? How long can you hold one position, even if half asleep? The reality is, your actually very much in motion all the time, or your dead. Your blood is flowing. Cells are dividing. Lungs moving in and out. Heart beating. The planet rotating how fast? To be motionless is an illusion. The river we are in experiences constant flow, constant change. If change bothers you, you were born on the wrong planet. You better change that.

When I speak of flexing and fluxing, I speak of flexing as in “flexibility”. I’m not speaking of someone flexing a muscle or showing off. I’m speaking of our ability to be flexible and adapt. They say “adapt-ability” is the greatest survival talent. Our ability to adapt. They also say foxes are one of the greatest survivors. Crazy like a fox?

When I speak of “Flux”, I speak of the constant fluctuations we experience every minute of every day. Like the fluctuation of heat radiating from a metal bar in a fire. We are fluxing and flexing in so many ways constantly. Change is our constant. It is as a paradox. Constant change as a state of being that does not change.

We notice when “change” approaches our discomfort zones. We start getting cold, so we put on a sweater, or turn up the heat. If were getting hot we do the opposite. We seek to maintain a certain “constant” in an existence of constant change. The dilemma of our mortality and humanity. Our survival depends on it. If we become too exhausted, we need rest. We need recharging of our energy levels that are depleted. We live in a constant ebb and flow.

It is a balancing act of ebb and flow. In “ebb”, the tide, the water is receding from, draining from the land, a state of decrease. In “flow”, the water is flooding into the land, growing, a state of increase. If you fast for a week you will experience the ebb of energy. You watch your fat supplies dropping. The weight on the scale going lower everyday. And when you break the fast, energy flows in! It flows in strong! Food never tasted so good! Even things you never liked before begin sounding good. Ebb and flow.

The Apostle Paul said, I have LEARNED to be CONTENT in whatsoever state I am in. (And he was not talking about the state of Indiana, or any other.) He speaks of our state of being, whether we are in lack or abundance. Safe or endangered. Hungry or full. Sick or healthy. Free or confined. Rich or poor. All the different comfort and discomfort zones of our mortality. Therefore, “CONTENTMENT” is a form of “CONSTANT” helping us endure “CHANGE”. Contentment is a gift or skill helping us maintain some constant in this crazy world of change. Paul says we can LEARN this.

So I lay there not moving. But actually I was moving even though not moving. And finally, I decided I needed to move. The thoughts were too many to remember. So I turned on the light by my bed. AAAAGHHHH! Immediate discomfort! My pupils trying to adapt to the CHANGE as quickly as they could! And until they did, I held my hand up and blinked a lot! You see, my pupils can only contract or enlarge so quickly. Our eyes are an excellent example or metaphor to our ability to adapt.

My point is, are we ready for big changes coming? How good are we at big changes? Our ability to adapt? We are allowed to change, but cannot COMPROMISE. Paul ended up in jail because he was willing to adapt to jail life more than compromise on the Word of God. God and God’s Word are two “constants” we have in this changing world. Our SOUL is also a constant. This body will one day fail to adapt and fall away. When it does, my soul will be released into a new environment. My soul is eternal. God and God’s Word are eternal. Things that are eternal are not affected by change in the same way temporary and mortal things are. They are examples of constants. We should treasure our constants and not worship the temporaries.

I can see this subject will need to be continued. I believe a perfect storm is coming. We’ve all experienced small changes. A lot of small changes recently. Covid presented changes to us we never saw before and was rather shocking that America would so quickly change to such things. I was one of those supposedly killing my grandma. I couldn’t believe how quickly I went from being a good and productive citizen of America, to being Public Enemy #1! My ability to adapt was stretched, but because my God is constant, and His Word does not change, my map of eternity remained true. My ship sailed true in the storm. My destination remained the same, another constant I have. It’s my true north.

However, I believe that was still small stuff. A perfect storm is looming. It’s been building for decades now. We have survived storms, but are we ready for a perfect storm? Are you poised to batten down the hatches and survive? Will you still be a light shining in the worst of darkness? Will your lamp still have oil? Will your eyes be in pain? How quickly can your pupils adapt?

God has His prophetic gifts to warn His people so they can prepare within a reasonable time. His Word is prophetic. The voice of God is prophetic if we are listening. He will speak to us individually. We don’t have to depend on some other prophet if we are tuned in, the Lord is my Shepherd, and His gifts are alive in us.

Are we changing now to minimize the pain of then? Be ye filled with His Spirit. Walk in the Spirit, not flesh. Be the sailboat. Crazy like a fox.

To be continued.