Welcome to 2009!
It's Tuesday of the first full week of 2009. Like it or not 2008 is in the record books. As we begin a new year, I want to encourage you to ask a couple questions.
Question 1: Where are you?
One of my favorite metaphors for life is a journey. If your life is a journey, where are you right now. Are you standing in a beautiful garden full of beautiful flowers that bring joy to every moment of your life? Are you standing in the middle of an intersection trying to decide which way to go while hoping that those cars whizzing by won't flatten you? Are you in the middle of a desert with empty pockets and a dry canteen not knowing where your next drink might come from? Maybe you have your own image for the place your life-journey has brought you. Maybe it's as cold and damp as yesterday's rain here in North Texas. Maybe it's as warm as seat on the hearth in front of your family's fire place surrounded by people who care about you.
Question 2: Where are you going in 2009?
One thing I've learned about life is that, good or bad, 2009 won't end where it began. Whether or not you like the journey metaphor, it's pretty easy to see that each of us is going somewhere. What decisions are you making that affect your journey? Are you in control of the next place you will find yourself, or are you spiraling downward, out of control?
The Good News
Here's good news: It's not too late. Your sitting at a computer someplace reading this blog. You're breathing in and out whether you're thinking about it or not. If you hold your fingers on your wrist, you're going to feel a pulse. It's not too late for a course correction. It's not too late for a game changer. It's not too late to grab the controls of your life and decide you're going to come out of the spiral that's sending you straight into the ground! The even better news is that God has plans for you to be in a better place, too. Toward the end of Old Testament God's people had been in a downward spiral for quite some time. They had turned from worshiping the God who created everything to worshiping statues that looked like the things he had created. God didn't put up with it. He sent his people into a nosedive that ended with them at rock bottom as captives in a foreign land. But, even there God told them he had better things in mind for them. He told them that they would live in Babylon for 70 years, but then he would deliver and restore them because he wasn't done with them yet. Through the prophet, Jeremiah, he promised them:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV
The better news is that God isn't done with you yet. If your heart is still beating, he still has plans for you. The best news is that God has already done the work to get you ready for his big plans. Over 2000 years ago God sent his Son to free us from his wrath and condemnation. God sent his Son to bear the punishment we deserved for our sin. Now God offers that to you if you will believe in his Son.
Over the next few weeks, our Journey at CrossRoads Church will be guided by our desire to understand this belief in God's Son. We want 2009 to be characterized by happiness--not happiness that is dependent upon our health, finances or circumstances, but happiness that finds its delight in our God. In invite you to come with us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV
It's Tuesday of the first full week of 2009. Like it or not 2008 is in the record books. As we begin a new year, I want to encourage you to ask a couple questions.
Question 1: Where are you?
One of my favorite metaphors for life is a journey. If your life is a journey, where are you right now. Are you standing in a beautiful garden full of beautiful flowers that bring joy to every moment of your life? Are you standing in the middle of an intersection trying to decide which way to go while hoping that those cars whizzing by won't flatten you? Are you in the middle of a desert with empty pockets and a dry canteen not knowing where your next drink might come from? Maybe you have your own image for the place your life-journey has brought you. Maybe it's as cold and damp as yesterday's rain here in North Texas. Maybe it's as warm as seat on the hearth in front of your family's fire place surrounded by people who care about you.
Question 2: Where are you going in 2009?
One thing I've learned about life is that, good or bad, 2009 won't end where it began. Whether or not you like the journey metaphor, it's pretty easy to see that each of us is going somewhere. What decisions are you making that affect your journey? Are you in control of the next place you will find yourself, or are you spiraling downward, out of control?
The Good News
Here's good news: It's not too late. Your sitting at a computer someplace reading this blog. You're breathing in and out whether you're thinking about it or not. If you hold your fingers on your wrist, you're going to feel a pulse. It's not too late for a course correction. It's not too late for a game changer. It's not too late to grab the controls of your life and decide you're going to come out of the spiral that's sending you straight into the ground! The even better news is that God has plans for you to be in a better place, too. Toward the end of Old Testament God's people had been in a downward spiral for quite some time. They had turned from worshiping the God who created everything to worshiping statues that looked like the things he had created. God didn't put up with it. He sent his people into a nosedive that ended with them at rock bottom as captives in a foreign land. But, even there God told them he had better things in mind for them. He told them that they would live in Babylon for 70 years, but then he would deliver and restore them because he wasn't done with them yet. Through the prophet, Jeremiah, he promised them:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV
The better news is that God isn't done with you yet. If your heart is still beating, he still has plans for you. The best news is that God has already done the work to get you ready for his big plans. Over 2000 years ago God sent his Son to free us from his wrath and condemnation. God sent his Son to bear the punishment we deserved for our sin. Now God offers that to you if you will believe in his Son.
Over the next few weeks, our Journey at CrossRoads Church will be guided by our desire to understand this belief in God's Son. We want 2009 to be characterized by happiness--not happiness that is dependent upon our health, finances or circumstances, but happiness that finds its delight in our God. In invite you to come with us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV
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