iMac And iChange

Today I revisit the Apple world for a metaphor of the Christian life.

You see, last week I converted my law firm from PCs to Macintosh computers.

I’d been thinking about the change for some time but had put it off because I knew it would disrupt my business for a while. I knew I would have to find new software to replace the PC-based software that didn’t have Mac versions. I knew only two of us in the office had ever used Macs and the others would probably be resistant to the change.

But I also knew that in the long run through the simplification and integration offered by the Macs we would be much more productive and our law office would be transformed. The problem was the pain we would have to endure to get to that place.

We could have eased into it. I could have moved slowly, had our employees attend Mac classes at the local Apple store and get familiar with the new computers before making the change. I could have waited until business slowed down. But I realized the more I thought about trying to ease into the change the less likely I was to make it.

So, last Thursday we purchased all the new computers, and Friday the Mac expert came out and configured our new network of iMacs. As you might guess, the last four days have been difficult. Every program is new to us. There is nothing familiar. If I could sum it up in one word it would be painful. But I know if I had tried to avoid the pain by easing into it I never would have made the change.

All this thinking about transforming the inner workings of my law firm got me to thinking about how the Lord transforms us. Sometimes, in a fallen world, the fastest way for personal transformation is through pain. Adversity, it has been said, introduces a man to himself, and that is the first step to change. Pain often forces change by closing the rear exit and leaving us nowhere to go but forward to confront what the Lord wants to root out of our lives.

There is no turning back at my law firm, so we are moving ahead. Yesterday evening I started feeling the blessings of the change we had made as I found myself navigating through the new software more quickly. I began to sense the true potential of the transformation we were experiencing, a transformation that just a week ago lay on the other side of pain.  GS

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