--- id: 20170901_change title: BLOG - Change category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: life-stages-to-eternal-hope sentiment: Reflective emotions: - Honest - Persevering - Hopeful keypoints: - Change is often unwelcome but inevitable, essential, and normal across life - High school grandeur, college study habits, marriage and war forced hard adjustments - Business, family, illness, and aging continued the school of perseverance - James 1:2 frames challenge as developing perseverance; Jeremiah 29:11 frames God's good plans - Final change points toward eternity — Dean prays readers plan for the same reward summary: > Dean Rush walks through life stages — high school ambition, college discipline, wartime marriage, business trials, and aging — to show that unwelcome change is inevitable and formative. He cites James 1:2 on perseverance through trials and Jeremiah 29:11 on God's protective plans, then points to eternity as the next amazing change and prays readers prepare for that reward. tags: - blog - human-resources - change - perseverance - aging - james-1 - jeremiah-29 - eternity - life-stages - dean-rush sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 8 entropy: 3 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: blog created: '2017-09-01' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: BLOG prefix: BLOG enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: BLOG_2017-09-01_change.md source_kind: blog_article proposed_topic: Wisdom lane: Wisdom voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: Wisdom content_status: active date: '2017-09-01' share_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/change source_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/change site_category: Human Resources archive_month: 2017-09 description: > Dean traces change across a lifetime — from youthful pride through war, work, and aging — and anchors perseverance and eternal hope in James 1 and Jeremiah 29. --- # Change **Author:** Dean Rush **Original post:** [deanrush.net/blog/change](https://deanrush.net/blog/change) **Archive month:** September 2017 · **Site category:** Human Resources > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's article** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned of HTML/image artifacts only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Dean narrates a lifetime of unwelcome-but-necessary change and ends with perseverance, God's good plans, and eternal hope. The enrichment below does not rewrite his autobiography; it shows the wider biblical frame for a first-time reader. | Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Change is inevitable and can form us | There is a time for every matter under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1); put off the old self, put on the new (Ephesians 4:22–24) | | Trials develop perseverance | "Count it all joy… when you meet trials" — testing produces steadfastness (James 1:2–4) | | God plans good, not harm, through the years | Jeremiah 29:11 — plans for welfare, future, and hope | | Aging still has calling; eternity is ahead | The outer self wastes away, the inner is renewed (2 Corinthians 4:16–18); absent from the body, at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8) | --- ## Dean's article ### Sometimes Change is not welcome! ![Hot air balloon image from Dean's original post](https://deanrush.net/Portals/0/images/article/balloon-3206530_1920.jpg) We all experience change. Sometimes change is not welcome but it is inevitable. I believe, change is essential and normal as we go through life. ### Visions of Grandeur When I was in high school, I had feelings of grandeur. If I wasn't the best at something, I needed to attempt to be the best. Unfortunately, I was best at only a few tasks. Some tasks were not worthy of recall. I could toss hay to cattle with the best of them. I could scoop out the chicken house quicker than anyone (mainly because it was a job I hated and I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible). I, however, was not the best athlete, the best student, or the most popular. Change in those areas of my life required effort on my part. Effort may not have been my most enduring quality at that phase of my life. ### Reality in College When I was in college, I quickly learned that I was not the best at most tasks (most notably studies). To be successful I had to change my study habits and buckle down. After concentrating more thoroughly on improving my grades there was surprising improvement. My scores did not impress my classmates or the professors but were sufficient to graduate. By changing my priorities, it was easier to reach the goal of graduation. I learned enough to use those improved study methods in graduate school and my grades were much better than my undergraduate work. After college, I married and change came in rapid bundles. There was a necessity to think beyond today. I was off to war and had to leave my bride with only a small pay check from the Air Force, an unfurnished apartment, and a pregnancy we had not planned before my departure. Those actualities all required changes. My wife and I learned from and used those lessons throughout our lives. > **Scholar sidebar — Pride humbled, habits reformed** > Dean's high-school "grandeur" meeting college reality is a lived parable of Proverbs 16:18 (pride goes before destruction) and the call to diligence (Proverbs 13:4). Marriage, war, thin pay, and unplanned pregnancy forced "think beyond today" — wisdom Scripture often ties to numbering our days (Psalm 90:12) and providing for household (1 Timothy 5:8). The scholar layer affirms his honesty; it does not romanticize wartime hardship. ### Change Grows Responsibility The next phase of life was constantly filled with change. I started businesses and some were successful and others only expensive learning processes. During those years, there were constant changes in location, ages, responsibilities of our family, education, illness, future capabilities, employment, and numerous other factors. In the end, all those lessons served to be valuable with the progression of life. I was beginning to learn that change provided some strength in developing perseverance. James 1:2 in the bible talks about being thankful for all change or challenge because it develops perseverance. Maybe change does make us stronger. > **Scholar sidebar — James 1:2–4 and expensive lessons** > James 1:2–4 calls believers to count trials joy because testing produces steadfastness, and steadfastness must finish its work. Dean paraphrases toward "thankful for all change or challenge" — close enough to the text's aim that enrichment should keep James's fuller sequence in view: joy → testing → perseverance → maturity, lacking nothing. Failed businesses as "expensive learning" fit biblical realism about sowing, reaping, and hard-won wisdom (Proverbs 24:16; Ecclesiastes 7:14). ### Final Changes! I am now experiencing the last phase of life. I am aging. I know I am getting old because there are several unexpected indications. I regularly receive advertisements in the mail that I can qualify for discounts on my cremation (innovative advertising). Who would have thought something that up as a marketing tool? Oh yes, we receive notices that when we can no longer hear, see, or go to the bathroom alone there are trained care givers who will assist me in that "change". I have suddenly become aware that there are other requirements to accompany change which result in debilitating factors? I would have expected aging to require the least adjustment but it is apparent that this last phase of life we experience the most change. In fact, this phase of life is also the most rewarding. I now know where my priorities lie and can focus on those objectives that truly make a difference. I believe the Bible speaks tons in Jeremiah 29:11. That verse (paraphrased) says Know that God has great plans for us. Plans not to harm you, but to help you and protect you throughout your life. I believe those words to be true and have great confidence that the next phase of life to be eternal. The next big change will be amazing. **I pray you have made plans to expect the same reward.** In Him Dean > **Scholar sidebar — Aging, priorities, and the last change** > Scripture treats aging with both realism and honor (Ecclesiastes 12:1–7; Proverbs 16:31). Dean's humor about cremation ads keeps fear from having the last word. Jeremiah 29:11, again in exile context, underwrites trust in God's welfare plans; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 and 5:8 push further — outer decay, inner renewal, and home with the Lord. His closing prayer that readers "made plans to expect the same reward" is evangelistic without a long altar call: prepare for eternity. Support that invitation; do not invent a missing systematic theology paragraph. --- ## Takeaways 1. **Change is normal and often unwelcome.** Dean refuses both denial and nostalgia; life stages demand adjustment. 2. **Effort reforms habits.** College grades improved when priorities changed — a small parable of teachability. 3. **Hard bundles teach.** War, thin resources, business failures, illness, and family shifts became perseverance school. 4. **James and Jeremiah frame the meaning.** Trials grow steadfastness; God holds good plans even late in life. 5. **Eternity is the next amazing change.** Aging clarifies priorities and points readers to prepare for the same reward. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? Welcome or not, change will form you across a lifetime — let trials grow perseverance, trust God's good plans, and get ready for eternity. ### Why James 1 and Jeremiah 29? James explains what hard change can produce in character; Jeremiah anchors hope that God's plans are for welfare, not harm — together they keep Dean from either bitterness or shallow cheer. ### Key verses to read with this post - **James 1:2–4** — Trials produce steadfastness and maturity. - **Jeremiah 29:11** — Plans for welfare, future, and hope. - **Ecclesiastes 3:1** — A time for every matter. - **Psalm 90:12** — Number your days; get a heart of wisdom. - **2 Corinthians 4:16–18** — Outer wasting, inner renewal, eternal weight of glory. - **2 Corinthians 5:8** — At home with the Lord. ### A simple practice (Dean's challenge made concrete) Name one unwelcome change you are in. Pray James 1:2–4 over it, list one habit you must adjust, and write one sentence about how eternity reframes that change — then tell one trusted person. ### How this feeds Ask Dean This post is seed material for questions such as: *How does Dean view aging? What does he say about perseverance? How should Christians face unwanted change?* Answers should keep Dean's voice primary and use the scholar notes only as supporting biblical scaffolding.