The Christmas season has once again come and gone and all that is left are the memories.  We have good memories of the Christmas past.  Good memories of the days gone by can be of service to us by nourishing us.  There are some situations and times in life when there is nothing to be gained by looking back.  Sometimes it is dangerous to look back and repeatedly keep looking backward.  Some of us keep crossing bridges of memory again and again instead of walking into a promising future.  As the new year approaches, release the bad memories and failures in your past and those hidden in your heart and dig a grave and bury them so deep they can never come to life again.  Place a marker over them-"To be forgotten Forever".  Look to the dawn of a new day with hope, new courage, new tasks to be done, opportunities to be confronted.  Paul writes in Philippians 3:13-14 "Forgetting those things that are behind and reaches forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

     A good way to positively look ahead is to read God's word daily.  The E-100 Challenge that was out is a good tool.  There are 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament readings that will give you the big picture of the Bible without getting bogged down.  Since we share a Wednesday Bible study with Franklin Street, they too are using this tool.  Our Wednesday Bible study will focus on these readings.  The readings are entirely on your own at your own pace,  but your are encouraged to use the 100 day plan.  You can keep track of your progress by punching out the number of the day that you are reading on your daily planner.

     May this new year be a blessed one for you and our church as we grow together in the understanding of living for Him.  Be a doer and not just a hearer.  May God richly bless you.

Pastor Larry                        
    

“For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.” 1Peter 1:24-25 NIV