by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea

Things I would be immediately compelled to tell a time traveler popping in from the past:

*Prepare to watch doorbell videos of delivery guys and their encounters with bees and porch pranks and whatnot.

*Ready yourself to read hundreds—maybe thousands—of comments about yet another meeting that should’ve been an email.

*Get used to looking at pictures of people’s coffee.

*The Christmas season currently begins in August; adjust your calendar accordingly.

*Here’s a phone. Look down at it. No, don’t look up. Never look up.

*“Scan the QR code” is a new thing you’ll need to get used to hearing. That and please also learn the words “charcuterie” and “parkour.” For some reason.

*Here are your 900 hoodies. Yes, of course you need them all.

But some things? Some things never change:

Tacos. Always amazing. Also clothes with pockets. Pockets will never cease to be awesome.

When it comes to the list of steady, stable, never-changeables, though, there’s really nothing in the universe more reassuring than knowing we have a Savior who never changes. Not even a smidge. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 CSB). That means our relationship with Him is never bugged, bothered, burdened, or blocked by anything. Not by time, not by what anyone says or does, not even by anything we say or do ourselves.

You can’t travel back to a time when it hasn’t been so. In the very first chapter of that same book of the Bible, we find: “In the beginning, Lord, you established the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like clothing; you will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed like clothing. But you are the same, and your years will never end” (Hebrews 1:10-12 CSB). All else on earth might change—like rolling up one hoodie and donning another—but our God is steady. Constant. Faithful.

Knowing God never changes is knowing we need never fear. Our salvation is sure and firm because it’s based on His never-changing promise. And because He never changes, He will always be loving. Always be all-powerful. Always be full of mercy. Always be completely good.

That means we have a sure future. If we could pop in on any spot on any timeline, we would still find it true. What a gift. Speaking of the sweet gift of a never-changing God, there’s a double reminder in James 1:17. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (CSB).

I never get tired of this life-bolstering, fear-chasing, faith-building verse, and I love how The Amplified Version expands on it. “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].”

Surer than pockets and tacos and infinitely more awesome than pockets full of tacos. The same perfect Creator and Sustainer of the heavens is the perfect Creator and Sustainer of me. And that will never change.

God is good. All the time. And all the time, times, and more times—times forever—God is good.

Rhonda Rhea is an award-winning humor columnist for great magazines such as HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway, and many more. She is the author of 19 books, including the popular romantic comedies co-authored with her daughter Kaley Rhea, Off-Script & Over-Caffeinated and Turtles in the Road. Rhonda and Kaley have also teamed up with Bridges TV host Monica Schmelter for the Messy to Meaningful books and TV projects. Along with Beth Duewel, Rhonda writes the Fix Her Upper series, and she also co-authored Unruffled: Thriving in Chaos with Edie Melson. She speaks at conferences and events from coast to coast, serves on many boards and committees, and stays busy as a publishing consultant. Rhonda says you can find her living near St. Louis drinking too much coffee and snort-laughing with her pastor/husband, five grown children, and a growing collection of the most exceptional grandbabies.