bits from bob....
Welcome to a New Year!
by Robert J. Young
December 15, 2003
©, 2003, Robert J. Young
[permission is given to reprint with credit noted]
Note: A bulletin article from my friend, Bill Keele, contained an excellent idea. Before you open your Christmas gifts, take a few moments to talk about the gifts you have received from God in the past year.
As your family assembles for Christmas, ask each to recount the best things that happened during the past year. While we may remember many items, it is amazing that God is a part of so much of what we remember--missions works, family times, blessings in the midst of an imperfect world.
What would you share? Where have you seen God? Where has his presence and providence and protection been apparent?
What would our lives be like without God? In a timed world of transitions, the stability and steadfastness of our solid Savior remains secure. Praise God!
P.S. Thanks also to Bill for some of the ideas contained in the little piece below.
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When the new year comes and the old year passes, two activities are common. We look backward; we look forward. Often we look backward with regret. We would do well to focus on the positive and look backward with gratitude and celebration. Often we look forward with resolve, but fail to look forward with anticipation.
As we look forward with expectancy and anticipation, consider some of the possibilities. In the next year....
- I wonder who will decide to become a Christian.
- I wonder how many will decide to become Christians.
- I wonder who may return home to God.
- I wonder how much we will be able to grow spiritually.
- I wonder how much we will be able to grow numerically.
- I wonder who our new members will be. I wonder what talents and backgrounds they will bring to enrich this church.
- I wonder how much I will be able to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
- I wonder what great things God will do through his willing servants here in the coming year.
These are some of the things I am anticipating. What would you add to the list?
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Last updated December 15, 2003.