At one level, I find celebrating the new year kind of silly, since it is simply celebrating the passage of time on an arbitrary date set by our calendar.  But my mom pointed out how it reflects a part of how we were created.

Every night we go to sleep and then wake up to a new day, leaving yesterday’s anxieties behind.  I know that one!  Many a night I’ve gone to bed anxious and lacking faith, but I woken up refreshed and encouraged.  Just like resetting my computer.  Not sleeping caused serious damage.  We were created to require a reset!

The new year provides us with a mental reset.  We can put last year behind us and look optimistically to the new year.  We can make resolutions and feel empowered to change because we are in a new time.  What a wonderful thing compartmentalizing does for us!  I have a friend who refers to his hard “season of ‘08″.  He is still dealing with the repercussion of what happened then, but somehow leaving it back then allows him to face the new reality of today.  The reset does not erase the past pain, it just puts it into perspective and allows us to move forward.

me getting baptized in the caribbean on our honeymoon

This “resetting” is one reason I love baptism and why it should happen early in a believer’s walk.  It provides that marker showing that the old has passed away and the new has come.  It proclaims “I am born again!” and emboldens us to walk in newness of life with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  Just like in the song Amazing Grace when it says “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see”.  I know in my life I continually look back at the contrast of the old me – enslaved to sin – and the new me, a new creation by the blood of Christ.  I’ve hurt many people and committed many evil sins; but there is now no condemnation for me because of Christ’s resetting, redeeming work in my life.

God created us to reset.  We reset daily, reset yearly, and reset in life when we are born again.  Allow God to you help reset!

Some Bible passages to meditate on:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:12-14)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:14-15

(14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

15Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant

One of the biggest things I’ve learned:  Give your leaders the opportunity to respond (especially to say “no”).  I honestly have been terrible at this, which is bad because it is respectful and enables them to do their job without me bringing unnecessary social pressure.  Note that I am using “leader” generically, this person could be your manager, boss, teacher, pastor, parent, small group leader, etc.

What’s this look like?  A few examples with some guiding rules:

1)  I asked one of my leaders to do something through e-mail, CC’ing the person who would execute on that.  I then realize that there’s a process I need to go through that will take time.  Now that leader is put into a position to respond both to me and that other person.
Rule:  Do not CC other people when asking your leader something via e-mail.

2)  I wanted one of my leaders to change a scheduled item and asked others about the change before talking to my leader.  In effect, I was “gathering support”.  Again, this puts the leader in a hard place with everyone else I’ve talked to.
Rule:  Do not “lobby” for support for your ideas before running them by your leader.

3)  I put one of my leaders on the spot to make a decision during a class time.
Rule:  Bring things up in private!

4)  I responded to something my leader sent out via e-mail, pointing out that person’s error while CC’ing everyone else.  Turns out I overreacted and misunderstood that person’s heart behind the matter.
Rule:  Bring accusations, complaints, concerns directly to your leader, preferably in person and not in e-mail.

(Note, I am assuming a reasonable relationship and available communication with your leader. There are of course other circumstances that would affect the aforementioned rules)

First thing to point out, this statement is closed minded.  It is quite interesting how oppressive people are who tote “open mindedness”.

As a Bible-believing Christian, some would say that I am closed-minded.  But note that closed minded is “not being receptive to new ideas or information”.  I am open to hearing new ideas (although within reason of course, as we could spend all day every day listening to other people) but I do not believe in those that do not line up with the truthful authority I acknowledge: the Bible.  Rejecting falsehood is not closed minded, it is wise.

September was a HUGE month for us raising support!  It was our biggest yet.  Thank you all who helped us out!  For anyone else interesting in supporting us please contact us as soon as possible!

(click on the icon to open the Newsletter in PDF)

September Update Letter - Info on what we'll be doing this year

October 2009 Updates - Updates on Luke plus how God has gotten us through some difficulties

Often people who have not yet met Jesus yet and realized the truth that He is Lord and Savior may be called unbelievers or non-Christians.  ”Pre-Christian” is a more positive term describing where they are at on their spiritual journey and implies where that journey is heading: toward Jesus.

A pre-Christian becomes a Christian when they’ve heard and seen the gospel, when they’ve recognized that God really exists and that He created us to be in relationship with Him and throughout our lives we’ve rejected Him through sin, but thankfully God sent Jesus Christ to die for those sins and to bring us to God.  When a pre-Christian realized that and believes that Jesus is Lord and indeed died for them and indeed rose from the dead, God enters them through the Holy Spirit and changes their life to help them love God and love other people.  And that is just one step in a lifelong journey with God.

And really, ultimately everyone is going to meet Jesus.  Either it is now or when the books are opened for judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).  Our ASSUMPTION for everyone we meet and everyone we love who does not know Jesus yet is that they will come to know Him!  We need radical trust that God is going to gift them with the desire to pursue Him through Jesus Christ.  God desires to draw people to Himself, let’s go ahead and trust Him for that!

“I don’t believe we should live our life in fear of what happens after we die.  We should just enjoy life now”

“Why would God want us to focus on what happens after we die?  Shouldn’t we just live the best we can now?”

“When we die we just die.  That’s it.  There’s nothing after.  Why would there need to be something afterward?”

I have heard these questions many times.  These come from people who either do not believe in an afterlife or believe that it is inconsequential.

How about we take some practical advice from Jesus?  Take a look at this:

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ (Luke 14:28-30)

Some very practical advice!  Start with the end in mind, else you will not get far or you’ll end up with something worthless.  And of course, today it is common to talk about “goals” – Kaelin’s brothers even spent a substantial time in middle school setting life goals.  So what is the end, what is the goal?  Well, if you think the end is nothingness and your body just rots away in the ground… well it doesn’t sound like much to live for and in turn your life will not have much meaning.  Thankfully, the Bible gives us a picture of the end we should strive for:

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I sawthe holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev. 21:1-5)

This is a wonderful vision of absolute redemption of all of creation!  Perfect peace, perfect love, perfect unity, perfect joy.  The Apostle Paul provided an example of living with that end in mind: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14).  He lived His life for Jesus’ glory knowing that his end would be eternally in the presence of God.

We have an option then (as shown in Phil. 3:17-21).  We can focus alone on our life today – “earthly things” – and end up in destruction.  Or we can focus on Heaven and live with that end in mind.