today is it...the last of this year. i'm excited about '09 and i'm nervous...
there are so many things that i wanted to do in '08 that didn't get done - not even close...but a recap of things that happened:
1. i grew closer to my wife - she is my love...she holds my heart in a way that i cannot explain or would dare try to...i'm so thankful for her!
2. my kids grew a year older - i've read so many stories of people losing children to accidents and mishaps and diseases...and, i'm thankful that i still have my girls. they're crazy and overly talkative [i mean, they're girls :o)] and unexplainable sometimes...but, they're mine, at least for a time...and i cherish having them in my life
3. i left people that i loved...the students and parents at WWBC will forever hold a special place in my heart. i miss them dearly and will love them always
4. i welcomed new people to love...Tucson has become our home and Foothills our church. i've met lots of great people like luke and stacy, gareth and amanda, and jon and connie...we are truly blessed to have these people in our lives.
those are the big things...and there are so many others that i have forgotten (on purpose or by accident)...
with my last blog of 2008 i'm going to leave you with something that i wish i had written...its by Oswald Chambers...enjoy and happy new year!
December 31...
"You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard —Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday. ". . . God requires an account of what is past" ( Ecclesiastes 3:15 ). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. ". . . the Lord will go before you . . . ." This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our "rear guard." And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. "You shall not go out with haste . . . ." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him."
No comments:
Post a Comment