Tag Archive
These are all of the articles tagged with the keyword "new year".
Living in Denial
Posted: January 2, 2008
Category: Pastor Steve's Blog
Comments: 0 Comments
TAGS: Christmas, denial, new year
So, I’m headed up to my parents home. A little tired after all of the Christmas season rush and anxious for some days of relaxation and spending time with family. I take a left turn on to Highway 36, leading out of Temple, for the last portion of the trip. I think I see a sign for 60(at least assume), and that the sign turns to 70 a ways up the road (again assumption). This is a beautiful four lane road compared to the two lane roads that I was on before. It felt nice to kick on the cruise control with the wider open space and I was looking forward to pulling into their ranch in just a few minutes. Just then, an officer of the law does a u-turn from the other direction and comes up behind me! I’m a little shocked that he stays there and doesn’t go around me to find some law-breaker. I pull over and he stays right there with me. He walks up and asks the question, “Do you know why I stopped you?” I respond, “not really” and he lets me know that I was going over 70 miles an hour in a 60 mile an hour zone.
Now the denial kicks in. “That can’t be,” “I’ve driven this many times,” “When did they change the signs?” I’m feeling argumentative about the speed he told me..but it doesn’t matter. I was going to fast. Busted. Life is like that. Whether we know it or not…we are going out of the zone in life and someone tells us that we’ve moved beyond the boundaries. It doesn’t just happen with speed zones. It’s life zones. How do we react? If you’re like me. It’s denial. It wasn’t me, it isn’t my problem, they have a problem, it’s a mistake. But denial doesn’t help. We often become defensive and push people off and don’t really consider what is happening in our own life.
As we begin a New Year, it is good for us to consider our life, our attitudes and our actions. Not only on what we’re doing today, but also on how we will deal with the issues that come up in our life? Will we be so arrogant that we will act as though we never do anything wrong? Will we try to live in Denial rather than approach the truth of who and what we are? It’s a good time to think about what we confess in worship. We often confess that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed. As we say that, it’s good for us for us to consider our very motives. Our we open to our own failings and short-sightedness? Or are we going to live in denial? Reading 1 John 1:7,8 and consider the question…can we live in denial and how has God been faithful to me?
Our God Our Help in Ages Past
Posted: December 31, 2007
Category: Pastor Steve's Blog
Comments: 0 Comments
TAGS: new year
Have you ever heard that hymn? Our God Our Help in Ages Past. That means a lot as we go from 2007 to 2008. This one line from the hymn says a lot about what I can expect in the coming year. Just saying “Our God” says a lot. It says something about being together. It says that we belong to the same God. It means that the God of heaven and earth has called us together that we can say “our.” Jesus taught His disciples to pray that way…”Our Father.” It means belonging to one another and to the Lord. To say, “Our Help” indicates that we anticipate need. We had need in the past and we will need help in the future. It is His Help that has been faithful. It is His help that we can speak of because it came at the right place and time.
To look ahead to another year is to know where our strength has come from in the past. It takes away fear and adds confidence. “If God is for us…who can be against us?” The question Paul asks is answered here. He is for us…and He continues to be for us.
Ages Past says something too. It’s just not our past. It’s the past that includes 2000 years ago. It’s His work 2000 years ago that seals the first part of this phrase. It was His sending of Jesus that makes it truly “Our God, Our Help.” Psalm 46 says, God is our fortress and strength. That is our God of the manger and our God of the cross and empty tomb. He is the God of the past and 2008. You may not know the song to sing…but you know the words to live it.
