When we are in the midst of change, we often fear and dislike it. But when we take a moment to look back on change, we wonder what all the fuss was about. Undoubtedly, there are a couple of things changing in your ministry. A story like the one below is good to read at the beginning of a meeting that may be dealing with change that is inevitable but not well-liked.

In 1829 Martin Van Buren, then the governor of New York, wrote this to the President: “The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as ‘railroads’ . . . As you may well know, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of fifteen miles per hour by engines, which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.”

Sylvia Simmons, How to Be the Life of the Podium (Amacom Books, 1999).