The world did not come to an end on December 12 2012.
Praise God! Not that I ever had any doubt that we would still be here in what humanity has tagged the year 2013. There have however, been some rather disturbing events happening all around us. Still fresh in our minds is the Newtown tragedy where twenty innocent children and eight adults were killed. I am including the lives of the gunman and his mother as well. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have been concerned about their souls too . We grieve with that town that is still hurting.
There were other dark happenings, besides other shootings and other precious lives lost, there were storms, tornadoes, and events of nature that caused much disruption and displacement. Add to that the Fiscal Cliff/Slope/Curb that occupied the time of our federal representatives right down to the beginning of the year. The times, they are a-changing, sang Bob Dylan in the 1960’s, and we are still in the midst of changing times.
This is a good time to be reminded that God never changes, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Never mind what changes we go through ,we can be sure that we can turn to God for all of our questions answered and all of our needs supplied. What has changed over time is our understanding of God as we take the time to open ourselves to God’s revelation of God’s self to us. My prayer for all of us this year is that we grow closer to God and look to an Omniscient God to direct our lives. That is where our security lies—with God; not with guns, not with money, not with things, not with other people, not with power, but with God. It is God who gives us the ability to create our lives in whatever ways we want to. If our focus is on weapons of destruction then that is what we will realize in our lives. If we focus on Jesus, then Christ-like things will occur. And we can make our lives new again. Remember all these other things are temporary, even our lives are temporary. Only God is eternal. It makes sense to me that we should place our bets with the eternal (woops, not Methodists, we don’t gamble) but if I were taking a gamble, I’d go with God all the time! May 2013 be a year of abundant blessings, a year of the Lord’s favor!
Shalom,
Pastor Laurel
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. See, I am making all things new.”Revelation 22, 21-25; 21: 5