new year

I have been thinking a lot about the new year. Transition is so difficult..that’s why it’s transition. You are going from something that it typically known to what is unknown. For a Christian, the peace is knowing that God is leading you and has prepared the path for you to walk. The dificulty lies in that you don’t know the path but have to walk in Christ and with Christ on a daily basis. That is the only way to make it….one step at a time (to quote an old ballad).

This year is going to be full of transitions. To say that it isn’t or to say that life and the pace will “slow down” is only foolish. When you try to live your life without transitions, without the “uncontrolled” moments, you typically have a more difficult time than when you simply embrace “life happening.”

This year, you, we have the ability to hit life’s transitions head on and allow God to turn the outcomes into evidences of His glory. I am thankful for life, I am thankful for the life that God had blessed me with. I am thankful for my past, my present and my future. I look forward to sitting at this place (and prayerfully this same house) and reflecting on how amazing God is. Life is so worth living and living well.

May your joy, love, peace, and hope, which comes from your growing love for the Lord, permeate the very essence of who you are and where you dwell…by and in God’s grace!

Forgiveness and healing

I was studying for a talk that I gave on Saturday night to a group of single adults. The talk was titled “awkward-free dating.” As I have been a singles pastor, one thing has become really clear…a lot of single adults love talking about and hearing talks on dating. So I began what has really turned into a book called “to date or not to date”…that is the question. I never had any intention on speaking so much on a topic but God led me to the place of understanding that God loves to be glorified in all relationships…God IS relationships…..and this means that God desires to be glorified in DATING…but first DATING had to be defined…so I defined it….

A point in my talk was “to DEAL before the DATE.” The point was that the date was not the place where people need to “relationally or emotionally DUMP” on the other person. As I was studying, I came across a passage that I had read and memorized many many years ago. In 2 Chronicles we read, “If my people, who are called by My name will humble themselves, will pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then will I hear from heaven and heal their land.” 

God is so ready to heal our hurts, bad habits, and destructive hangups. But we have to come before him and ask for forgiveness so that He can heal us. The same is true in many many relationships. We have to come to a place of forgiving past hurts before we will ever find healing from those past hurts. 

I don’t know too many people that don’t desire healing…but the desire is not enough. We have to first ask for forgiveness or we have to forgive….don’t forget Jesus’ model prayer. “….forgive us our debts just as we forgive those who have debts towards us…..