Looking Forward to Not Going Backwards

 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. ¹³ No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  Phil. 3:12-14

 

For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant. ²⁹ And now, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you have spoken, and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”  2Sam. 7:28-29

 

Pictured above is the Roman God Janus.  If you were at any of our campuses this past Sunday would've learned that our month January is named after this Roman god.   He has two faces simply because one looks back over the year passing, while the other is facing forward into the year ahead.  One can't help but do both as we yelled, sang, partied,  or some even slept into the new year.   I thought I'd take a moment to express my thoughts, feelings, and emotions regarding the past year, as well as my joys going into 2014.

 

Let me first say, Happy New Year to all those reading, as well as to those that wondered what happened to my daily blogging after getting back from Africa (maybe I'll get to the why, later).  2013 were filled with many highs and a few lows. 

 

MY HIGHS  were

 

• Worshipping with the Connections body, Sunday after Sunday.  Receiving Brian A. devotional pieces fed my soul in many ways that someone put so much thought (surely received from the Holy Spirit) regarding why we sing the songs we were singing. 
• Meeting new guests week after week.
• Seeing relationships healed, broken men restored, and families strengthened by the WORD.
• Recording music with the late Dave Hall, and seeing his passion ooze out of him till he could give no more.
• Watching Dave Hall demonstrate to all of us how to persevere during the throws of cancer.
• Getting to go to Africa (seeing the generosity of people help a band of misfits to go on such short notice).
• Seeing people come to Christ in Africa. 
• Baptizing people in the Katskatera mountains.
• Baptizing 10 people this year at Connections!
• Feeling loved by my wife & children after each days work.
• Feeling the prayers of friends and family to get me through my first full year of being a Pastor.
• Recognizing that THIS is GOD's CHURCH, and HE SAID He'd build it, so I don't need to worry about that.
• Seeing people step up!
• Making an impact in my local community......I am so pumped for 2014!
• Watching my small business take care of itself financially.
• Loving on, and feeling loved by those considered the least of these.
• Feeling at peace most of the year! (actually 90% of it)
• Finding CJ, and standing down watching potential.

These are just a few, do know that I could go on....but here are THE LOWS:

 

• No matter what....seeing people leave is always hard. 
• Going through the last days with Dave H. family.....I don't like seeing people hurting.
• Those times when things went wrong.....videos, music, musicians, vocalists...especially when all of them happened at once.
• The physical, mental, and emotional wear of the Trip to Africa this year.
• Seeing my wife hurting regarding our young adult daughter.
• When Brian A. went down, and I knew he had to re-align his life.
• Those times when I felt like and knew I blew it....

As I look back at the Highs and Lows, one thing is consistent.....GOD was present in all of them.  One of the greatest blessings is that I KNEW THAT.  When I was so frustrated sleeping in the open in a tent in Africa He was there....wrapping His arms around my flailing body.   When I present the Gospel in the dark of night in Katskatera...He was there.   When I sat in Dave H. home, on the Friday night he passed He was there.   So when I look back in Faith, I don't have a problem recognizing Him being true to His word.

 

As I look forward to 2014, none of us know how much of this year we will actually be afforded...but this I do know....that I am hopeful that Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done......like starting a Community Small Group of and with people that some don't attend church anywhere.   I'm hopeful that we will baptize more people this year (I don't know if it will be more than 10....but trust me God will send them).  I'm hopeful that with the help of the Holy Spirit my family and I will REACH more people for God.  Which leads me to this blog thing.....this was and is a vehicle once used to REACH people, and I simply became so consumed that I didn't stop reaching, I just did it in different ways....so lift me up  in prayer....and as God speaks....like He did tonight, I'll try to nestle up to my pc and spill my thoughts. 

 

David was reminded of how good God had been to him despite his short-comings and failures...but God still blessed His servants house.   That's all I want from God, is that He'd bless my family and my home, and I know He will because He has a plan to prosper us, not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future!   #LGLP2014