The Best Year Ever

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

We are only days from the New Year...from 2012; or what I like to refer to as "The Best Year Ever".

We look at time as this capsulized thing which begins January 1st and ends December 31st. We measure the success and failure of time by how the days and months of each year ebb and flow.

Years, as we define them, receive labels and go on the shelves of our minds like so many scrapbooks. We keep mental pictures and records of the good things that happen, but all too often we define a year not on the good, but on the bad. Tragedy tends to be more defining in our lives than triumphs and often overshadows even the best of days in one's life.

In the last decade our country has defined each of the years by tragedies we have faced:

2009 - was the year of the Great Recession

2005 - was the year of Katrina

2001 - was the year of September 11th

Wars raged, people killed, disease spread....all of these horrific pieces mark our days...our years.

But...

Woven through the tapestry of these years defined by tragedy, babies were born, marriages were begun, discoveries were made, records were broken, songs were sung, books were read, laughter was shared.

Even in the worst of times we are are reminded that we have happiness within our reach. We do not need to be defined by the tragedies of life - we can choose to be defined by the joys - - which undoubtedly out number the woes.

Jesus told us that we would face obstacles - that trouble would find us - but he also encouraged us not to fear the trouble because he would always be with us.

As we approach this new year...we have a choice - will we allow it to be defined by the tragedy and trouble we will surely face, or will we choose to define 2012 as the Best Year Ever....

You decide...

Scripture

John16:29-33

Quote of the Day

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Question of the Day

How do you define 2011?

Comfort in His Arms...

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

A daddy's arms...A mother's touch...A friends comfort...

Those are places of safety and peace. They draw visions of calm and serenity.

This is the vision Jesus offers to each of us when he calls, "Come to me..."

Come to me my princess; Come to me my prince; Come to me my daughter; Come to me my son...

Come to me - I will give you peace.

Come to me - I will give you strength.

Come to me - I will relieve your burden.

Come to me - I will love you.

Jesus wants to give you his comfort and his peace. We do not need to walk through this world alone. Our burdens are not individual - they are shared with the One who loved us enough to give up everything to be with us.

He is calling to you...Will you come?

Scripture

Matthew 11:27-29

Quote of the Day

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints,
is when I carried you."

Quote from Footprints in the Sand

Mary Stevenson

Seeking Righeousness for the Oppressed...

 

 

The LORD works righteousness

   and justice for all the oppressed.

Psalm 103:6

Righteousness is all about being right...and good...and honorable.

When the LORD looks down on each of us, He sees our lives as they truly are. Most of us are oppressed in some way or fashion.

In some parts of the world the oppression seems obvious:

• Women are oppressed in certain nations simply because of their gender.
• Christians are oppressed because the nation in which they live does not have freedom of religion.
• Children are oppressed because their entire lives have been bookended by war and poverty leaving their nations deprived of adult leadership or healthy parents.
• And the oppression and painful pits of reality turn onward...

Here in the United States, or even in Western Europe, the oppression is more insidious;

• We are oppressed by our ways of thinking or the ways that society tells us to think.
• We are oppressed by how our bodies should look or what we should wear.
• We are oppressed by where we live and the opportunities available to us.
• We are oppressed by a government of entitlement that wants to monitor our every movement or expression.
• We are oppressed because we are forced to be political correct to the point of no longer being able to express what we believe or why we believe.
• We are oppressed because the fringes of society have become more important than the mass of society.
• We are oppressed because we have told God that He is not as important as we are...

God is working to make this world right again; to seek out the righteousness in a world of corruption and corrupt able people. He wants justice for each of us and He has given us the means to find this justice through the salvation He offered us on the cross.

The oppression we face as Westerners is unique because we do not really feel oppressed. We can have nearly anything we want...but the cost is the loss of our freedom to love God above all else. By choosing "the American Way", we often choose to turn our backs, consciously and subconsciously, away from our true Redeemer. We have become satisfied with stuff rather than seeking out the salvation offered.

Today, as we countdown the five days remaining in 2011, we have the opportunity to reflect on where God sits in our lives. Is He first - granting us the freedom to live and to love as His disciples? Is He second - behind our comforts? Or is He far down on the list as an after thought proving that our desires for stuff is greater than our desire for salvation?

You are either free or you are oppressed...recognizing where you are will determine whether or not your will find release from your captor and salvation in your redeemer.

Scripture

Psalm 103

Quote of the Day

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Question of the Day

What stuff is holding you back?

Preparing for the Party!

Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God.
Isaiah 40:3 (MSG)

Preparation...

So much of life is spent in preparation for an activity or a celebration. We prepare for thirteen years to graduate high school and we prepare for four (or a couple extra) years to graduate college and enter the real world. We prepare for nine months for the coming of a new child into a family. We prepare for opening night of a big play through months of rehearsals. For the past four weeks we have been preparing for Jesus' birth; the celebration of the day the whole world changed.

We can spend so much time preparing for what is to come that we miss what we have been preparing to experience or do, just like so many in the nation of Israel. For centuries, the Israelites prepared for a Savior based on Isaiah's prophesy of the Messiah, but despite all of the preparations, most did not accept Jesus as the promised Redeemer. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the teachers of the law and the most religious of the people of Israel were largely threatened by Jesus coming, not comforted and excited. They were so caught up in the ritual of preparing for a Messiah that they were not able to step back and see He had arrived.

But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Matthew 12:14

These men, who knew the scriptures and the teachings better than nearly any other living soul, were unwilling to see the miracle unfolding before them. They were over-prepared but they under-delivered. They were not ready when the time came to make way for God's salvation in their lives. They had taken their eyes off of God. They had built roadblocks and obstacles instead of paved roads and pathways.

Preparation is good. It is important to be prepared for tomorrow and what will come; to be plan-ful and mindful of the needs of those around us and of tomorrow. But, in the midst of all of that planning and preparing, we must make room for awareness. We must always keep our eyes lifted forward to know when the time has come for the preparations to cease and the celebration to begin.

Life is a preparation for the day when we will get to celebrate in the eternal party, but in the midst of all of our preparations, we must not forget for whom the party is being thrown...

After all - Jesus is the reason for the Season...it is His party and we should keep our eyes solely focused on Him.

Scripture

Isaiah 40 (MSG)

Quote of the Day

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

Winston Churchill

Question of the Day

When do you struggle to be prepared?

Merry Christmas...May this day be a blessing and a reminder of the unending love Our Father has for each of us.