I recently shared with Don and Janella Abbey, our AFM field supervisors, some of the challenges we’ve faced in Thailand while trying to make lasting changes to long-established beliefs and traditions, both in the community and in the church. Janella identified with me by sharing a funny story, which I will attempt to retell.
One time, when a pastor decided to move the church piano from the left side of the platform to the right side, he nearly lost his job. “How dare he!” cried the saints. Barely surviving the fury of his parishioners, the pastor thoroughly repented of his insolent act and promptly returned the piano to its traditional place on the left side of the platform. Sometime later, the pastor accepted a call to another nearby church.
Months later, when he returned to visit his former church, he was shocked to see the piano on the right side of the platform. More amazing still, the pastor who had moved it was still in one piece! “How did you manage to get that piano across the platform?” the former pastor asked incredulously. His successor smiled and shook his head, acknowledging the perils through which he had passed. Placing his hand on his colleague’s shoulder and leaning close to his ear, he answered in a whisper, “One . . . inch . . . at a time.”
This funny story illustrates three human truths:
1) People tend to resist change. 2) They typically attack agents of change. 3) People more easily accept change when it is gradual. Please pray that God will grant us the wisdom and patience to be agents of change here in Thailand in things far more important than the location of pianos.
