I know I should, but now is not a good time!

Well, life is getting back to normal after the Christmas holidays and then New Year’s. I apologize to any one who checked in last week and found I hadn’t written anything new. I am sure you were very devastated and probably chose to cancel your class for last week, so I’m sorry. My family and I spent about 9 days living out of suitcases visiting family and friends in Virginia. As you all know, seeing family is great but the travel can really wear you out. So, now I find myself beginning a new year while still wrapping up 2008. Am I the only still putting up Christmas decorations? I finally got the wreaths out of the windows yesterday! I don’t know about you, but I am not too sad to see 2008 in the rear view and 2009 full of possibilities.

How was your 2008? Fear and despair seemed to be the two prevalent feelings about 2008. People losing jobs, companies closing the doors, mortgages going unpaid, stock market taking a dive and the list could go on but the picture is of a rather depressing year. That is exactly why I am glad God is in control. No matter what the landscape around us looks like, we can have hope. No matter had bad things look in the economy, we can have hope. No matter how long wars rage around us and terrorism threatens, we can have hope. It is times like this where what we believe matters most and comes to the surface. How we respond during difficult times says alot to the world around us. If we really believe in a sovereign God, shouldn’t that impact how we live and act when times get tough. If we stop caring about people, if we stop taking care of the less fortunate, if we stop acting like followers of Christ because it is tough, what does that say about our faith?

Our church is doing something kind of crazy this month. We are doing a first fruits offering. As a church we want to show our dependance on God and trust in Him by giving a double offering in January. This would be the equivalent to a double offering on the first fruits of the harvest, but since we don’t grow any crops we chose to represent that by our first fruits (paychecks) of the new year. When I first heard about this idea I have to admit it sounded crazy. How in the world are people going to give a double portion right after Christmas, and especially in this terrible economy? Well, my wife and I both felt challenged and knew it would be tough but we have chosen to trust God with the details and act in obedience to what we feel He is calling us to do. It was tough as we discussed it, but once we made our choice it didn’t seem to difficult. I am not sure how the response will be with others, but I know it has already altered how we will view our finances this year.

What about you? What do you feel challenged to do this year? Maybe its giving when it doesn’t make earthly sense, or canceling cable to spend better time as a family. I don’t know what IT is for you, but ask God to give you an IT for this year. I am not talking about resolutions or diets but something grander. Something that will actually change your life and your relationship with God. So even when the surrounding circumstances say one thing, your faith is strong enough to say something else.

I would love to know what your challenges are for this year. Share them if you would like to, but definitely talk about this as a class. Spend some time in prayer over what God might want you to do as individuals, families, and classes this year.