First off - Happy new year to everyone. I pray that your hearts are more open this year than ever before to who God is, and the wonders of His love. God is so infinitely spectacular, and my pea-sized brain is blown away when I try to fathom His greatness.
Every new year brings new hopes and dreams. We all think of what has happened over the past year and consider the possibilities of the year ahead. Often times we think about how we're going to exercise more, eat better, or watch less TV. And, often times by week 3 or 4 of the new year we're either laughing or feeling badly about how we couldn't make those commitments last. For me, this year brings 2 challenges. One is the condition of my body. I have gotten into such a rut of eating unhealthy foods coupled with a great lack of any physical activity. I swore just after Christmas that I was going to do something (for real this time) about this. Well, I'm not even one week into the year and I've already gone through my "Medium Sized" bag of Peanut Butter M&M's. (by "Medium Sized" they mean 5 lb bag... fyi...) And, I haven't exercised once. Praise God for Brian Cherney. (For many reasons, but) He has agreed to kick my butt if I don't start doing something about this. The other challenge for me is a bigger deal. I need everyone's help with this one. My walk with Jesus has been very "blah" for the last few months. I still believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I'm still humbled to think that God loves me so much and is so rich in mercy that He sent His son to pay a price that I couldn't, in order that I could once again come before Him. Are you kidding me? That's almost unbelievable! Praise God it isn't, right? Think about it...
The past couple of months have been some of the best of my life. I married the woman of my dreams. Karin is truly a gift! God is so present and at work in this woman. She is going to blossom into one of the truly great ones. I guarantee it. We moved into our new, beautiful home in a very diverse neighborhood where I know God is going to use us to bring His light to our wonderful neighbors. We got a puppy. His name is Samson. He is great! There is so much to be joyful about. And I am. In fact, I've spent much of the last few months thinking what a great job I've done creating this wonderful world. When people ask me about LDI, I get excited to talk about the classes I'm taking and teaching, and the mentoring I've been a part of. All great things, right??? The problem has been I don't talk about how much closer I feel to God. How I feel I am working toward sanctification in my daily walk. Even worse, I know I'm not trusting God right now.
As I'm writing this, I desperately want (more than anything) to move closer and closer to God every single day. I've been in this rut of entitlement for a while now. I hate it. I hate sin. I rest in the fact that God is more than enough and that God is bigger than sin and can get me through this place in my life. Pray for me, please. So many of you have been huge supporters/encouragers of me for so long. I'm humbled... and so grateful! Thank you! Pray that I would seek God first for joy and fulfillment. Pray that I would be a godly husband to Karin. That I would walk strongly with her, gracefully challenging her to place her trust in Christ alone!
God is so good! This new year does bring great hope. God's word tells us that everyday we're a new creation. There is no greater hope than that. There is no greater hope than the hope we have in an eternity with Jesus!
Happy New Year!
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