Category: Approach God (Page 14 of 18)

A New Year isn’t a New Life.

New-Years-Resolutions-SysAdmin Every year we wait in gathered anticipation for the chiming of the bell that will signal the new year and with it the hopes of new beginnings. We take stock of the previous year and assign levels of disappointment or satisfaction to help formulate our plan for the next 365 days. Our entire culture, from the big screen to social media, suggest that if we can just make it to 11:59 pm on December 31st, we’ll be alright. But that isn’t the truth. The hanging of a new calendar doesn’t guarantee a fresh new start. I don’t want to be a complete killjoy, so I’ll admit that there’s something about the scent of anticipation that is intoxicating. And, to be fair, the starting of a new year and a calendar free from the ink of the previous “to dos” does allow for a good launching point for starting… or restarting.  Goal setting should be as much a part of the tearing off of the December page as it is the rest of the year. So, while a new year doesn’t guarantee a new start, it does provide the possibility of one.

While a new year doesn’t guarantee a new start, it does provide the possibility of one.

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But, for so many people, they approach the new year with excited anticipation only to have their hopes for newness dashed once the “magic” of the holiday fades into the normalcy of everyday life. They look around and see that nothing has really changed; they’re still in debt, maybe deeper from over-reaching Christmas, relationships are still broken, maybe depression still drowns them or their loved one is still gone. For many the escape from pain or disappointment was temporary; measured in mere days. The hope of the new year that we’re peddled is mostly an illusion. It doesn’t take into account the realities of most people’s lives.

This isn’t the case for everyone. There are some that are in a great place in their life; tragedy or hardship hasn’t yet crashed down their door. The new year is a time of great reflection, in which they decide what bad habits they are going to abandon and which good ones they’ll adopt. And they have the will power, discipline and accountability to do it. To those I would say, don’t forget that there are those, in your life, whose new year started with dragging the chains of 2014 into 2015. There are people in your life whose 2014 ended with hurt or whose 2015 started with it. Don’t forget them. Be a light to them. Walk with them through it. Remember them by being with them and loving on them. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” Comfort them, don’t try to fix it, just comfort them. For those that can’t see a new year past the despair caked lens of 2014, I’ll say this, there is hope. While everything else is uncertain and turbulent, God is not. James 1:17 gives us a promise to hold onto. It says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” While every other area of your life may be uncertain and ever-changing, God is not. We are able to trust the promises of God, through Jesus. Life may not make sense right now; it may not fit with how you thought things would be or how you want it to be, but there’s still hope. God, through His people, can provide the comfort you need to bear your circumstance. Reach out to someone and hold on.

We are able to trust the promises of God, through Jesus.

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Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that if you hope in God all your problems will vanish; they won’t. But God has given His people to grieve with you, to comfort you, to be with you and to sustain you, so that you don’t lose hope. I wish I had answers for our “Why!?”s, but I don’t. All I can offer is my time and my prayer. If I know you, and we’re in close proximity, you can have both, just let me know. If neither apply, my prayer is still available, just let me know (I promise I’ll pray for you).

Top 5 of 2014

FiveI can’t believe another year is gone and let me just say, WHAT A YEAR! I retired from the military, moved my family across the world, started a new job and welcomed our DAUGHTER into the world! Banger year, I say.

As far as blogging goes, I think I did a little better this year. I posted almost 3 times a month. This year I plan on upping that to once a week. I’m also hoping this will be the year that I complete one of my major projects. Anyway, without further a due, here’s the Top 5 of 2014.

1. The Best Gender Reveal You’ll Ever See…

Of course the number one (and two) most popular posts has to do with our biggest news… Hazel Dae. I think it was the most popular for two reasons. First, it was news that a ton of people were waiting to hear. Second, the video (created by my mucho talented friend, Jeremiah Karr) was EPIC and Harry Potter themed.

2. I Fell in Love Twice!

This is the story of our Hazel; from prayer to home birth, it’s all here. It’s a great story about God’s promise and His faithfulness. It also include my perspective on our home birth, which I’m now a huge fan of, and a link to my wife’s blog about the birth story, which is put together so eloquently.

3. Jesus Didn’t Say That!

This post was my offering to the same-gender marriage conversation. Hopefully it contributed in a positive way. The Christian stance on the LBGT community should be the same as with every other “community”… love, without exception or expectation.

4. God Doesn’t Have a Plan for Your Life.This is actually an article that I’d intended on writing for a long time, but wasn’t able to until my frustration hit a point that it had to be written. So many times, during difficult life seasons, well-meaning Christians say, “It’s all part of God’s plan for your life.” without giving a second though to how ridiculous it is to believe that God wrote divorce or a child’s death into your life plan. If we’re talking about Jesus and you say that, kudos to you, you’re spot on! If I’m sharing a personal tragedy and you say it, I may punch you.

5. Repent All Ye Sinners! 

Let me just say, I love Christians. I really do; they’re my people. But we have, and continue to, say some really dumb things. The way we’ve communicated repentance to non-Christians is one of those things. While the intent is always good, the delivery isn’t always the best and the end result can be messy, if not damaging. This article was an attempt to flesh out the idea of repentance for both Christians and non-Christians.

So there you have it, the Top 5 of 2014.

See you in 2015.

The Thrill of Hope

A-Thrill-of-Hope-titleThe other day I was listening to a popular local Christian radio station when a man came on and shared his testimony for how God used the radio station to give him hope. During his testimony the man quoted Jeremiah 29:11 and talked about how God showed him that He had a plan for his life. Whenever I hear someone use that scripture to support the claim that God has a plan for their particular life, I cringe a little inside. It’s not because I don’t understand the person’s sentiment; I do. It’s because the person saying it is using the verse out of context and when it’s shared on a grand forum, like a radio station, I think it relays an incorrect understanding of the Gospel to thousands of people and only perpetuates western Christianity’s mishandling of Jesus.

I’ve written about this before and addressed the difference between God’s plan versus His desire for our life. You can read it HERE, so I won’t go into it again, but I think this is the perfect time of year to talk about what God told Jeremiah to say to the Israelites.

SHALOM-sign-18mm-1024-x-768To clarify and set the foundation, when read in context, we can see that Jeremiah 29:11 is actually being said to the whole Israelite nation as the are being sent into exile. In verse 11 God is telling His people His thoughts toward them are one of, in the Hebrew, shalom, or peace. In some translations, shalom is translated into prosper, but the intent is the same. God’s thoughts toward the Israelites are thoughts of peace and goodness. His desire for them is that of goodwill. It has little, if anything, to do with material prosperity and more to do with peaceful growth as a people and nation. Then God tells them that those thought are not simply intangible well-wishing on His part, but are the catalyst His plan to give them a future and hope. These plans are two-fold and point to both a short-term and long-term plan.

In the short-term, God is telling His people to take hope in His promise to rescue them out of exile after 70 years. Imagine that promise. Imagine the thrill as you hoped for that day. That’s good news enough and might have been a good place to leave it, but God didn’t leave it there. Because God is a God of redemption and reconciliation and had continually told Israel that He intended to save the world through them, the long-term plan is why we will gather in churches and homes, tonight and tomorrow to celebrate and remember. God’s short-term plan was seen 70 years after Jeremiah spoke Jeremiah 29:11, but His long-term plan was seen 2000 years ago, in a Bethlehem manger, in the birth of Jesus.

Jesus is our future and our hope; He’s our now. He is the plan that God enacted long before He spoke to Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, or Abraham. I don’t want to discount the fact that the Holy Spirit may lead someone to that scripture verse in times of despair. Times when there’s no money in the bank and no food in the cabinet, when your child lays sick or worse in the hospital, when all seems lost. He does; He’s led me there. But when He does, I’m certain that the only reason is to point us toward Jesus. The situation may not go away, it may get worse, but our hope is still Jesus. Tragedy is not God’s desire for us, peace is and that’s only found in Jesus.

Our hope, who is Jesus, ought to continue to thrill us (Click to Tweet This). So as we head to our Christmas Eve services tonight and gather for presents and good food tomorrow (our tradition is CRAB!), let us do so in a way that glories Him and acknowledges the Good plan of God.

Merry Christmas

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