Real life is full of small, even tiny, increments of change, influence, accumulation, activity – bytes of human experiences, many of which are not discernible to us without recall in looking for them. Most of life is the sum of countless small steps we make. But, there are events large enough to accent our minds and culture, serving to provide dramatic changes, for good or ill. We tend to like them, or fear them depending upon their context and the influence they play upon us and society in general. They accent personal and historical memories. Even some of the negative ones are often recalled with appreciation in that they helped our development in maturity and understanding of the human condition. In society they are the economic depressions, the wars, and nature storms that rake through communities. Personally they are perceived in births, weddings, employment, education, God, illness, and loss of a friendship, or the death of a loved one. These take hold of us for long range influence upon our thoughts and experience. They are nearly indelible – some to service and some to disservice. Some are neutral or seem so.
In the church, and for general public life, the great movements of revival changed things dramatically. This is well illustrated in the Great Awakening during the years of Jonathan Edwards’ ministry. The influences of several revival movements have been documented in history. The historical influence of the Billy Graham campaigns, massive by historical standards, and the importance of those campaigns to the forming of life culture and social values during the second half of the twentieth century are in the research stages. Impact appears to have been favorable, diluted somewhat by the various scandals related to some ministers and musicians in the related movement of evangelism. Such scandals may help to identify what is genuine in the influence of Christian faith. Facts are often interpreted in odd ways. Graham served to greatly advance evangelical Christianity, and managed to avoid some, not all, negative factors.
According to the text from Second Chronicles, Israel had, for years, drifted downward in orthodox worship and conduct. There was always a meaningful contingent of the faithful, and in a break out that may have even surprised this faithful group, a revival was born – and it flourished. Everyone was somewhat surprised that there was rapid recovery from a long slide downward. Hezekiah remarked on the speed of it, as though its timing was miraculous.
Accepting the standard that most of life is measured by incremental approaches, we are also aware that our lives may be vaulted forward or backward by dramatic and sudden decisions, actions, influences that make us significantly better or poorer servants of God – in shorter than normal periods of time. We can change in significant ways – giant leaps forward in nearly any thing we do and believe about God, ourselves, and the creation through to the ultimate reporting of what we did with the gift of life that came from God, and returns to him. There is a special kind of joy that may become a part of us because we gave attention to major immediate repair of our lives. For the brave and wise, there is made room for renewal and change. Isaiah warned that some incremental ways may be made excuse to avoid the larger. We can miss some advancement in spiritual life by resting too much in the normalcy of experience. It is entirely proper to create events, somewhat dramatic occasions or circumstances that will cause change in our lives. It serves for institutions like a church, a business, a nation, or a family. Weather, warfare and depressions may do it for nations. It is up to us to form good transitions. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020