I missed the press release a month ago when Toys “R” Us announced it was opening 120 new stores nation-wide for this holiday season. I find that it is getting harder to keep up with all the important stuff like that. I remember when the company filed for bankruptcy a few years ago over their $5 billion debt and closed all their stores. I looked it up and discovered that was September 2017. By 2019 the company was bought by a new group, and in 2021 opened on a smaller scale. Today there are 20 stores, with a large flagship store, Ferris wheel included, in Times Square. Soon there will be 160 Toys “R” Us locations, across the US, as well as their on-line business. What happened? Apparently, there has been a growing demand—up 17% the first half of this year—mostly from nostalgic adults seeking collectibles, trading cards, and things to build like Lego sets and model trains. 

Changing times require all of us to change not only in response to outside circumstances, but also in response to the inside need to seek fulfilment and growth. I wrote once of the fabled cowboys of the old west giving way to cars, trucks and city life. The cowboys who lived through those changing times constantly reinvented themselves. They learned the power of a new start, a new beginning. Bat Masterson, who reportedly killed more than 26 men before he was 30, died in 1921 sitting at his typewriter in New York City as the sports columnist for the New York Telegraph.

It is a new day for churches and the believers who gather each week. Technology in our daily lives has replaced actual in-person experiences and conversations.  But we still need time to play, laugh and cry with each other. It is a different day for all of us. Do you need a re-start, a reinvention, and transformation in your life today? God is the One who said, “Behold, I make all things new.” It is never too late for a fresh start.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Start anew. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

Share this webpage: