As I sit here and reflect on the past year, I marvel at how fast they are going by for me now. When I was younger I couldn’t hit the milestone ages fast enough (16, 18 , and 21). But for a while now I want the milestone ages never to come (40, 50, 60.). My kids are growing up too fast and time is just slipping right through my fingers. Where is the emergency brake on this thing called life? I want (as always) to write up some nugget of wisdom, but honestly at this point I’m just hoping for entertaining.

What strikes me as I am thinking back on things is the stuff that does not change. How many of us will have the same resolutions in 2008 that we had in 2007? How many of us continually ask forgiveness for the same sins over and over? Why is it so hard to change?

Change is hard, uncomfortable, and for most of us fleeting. By the time we realize it we are so stuck in our bad habits that it is seemingly impossible to change. It would take a miracle, and I cannot find Miracle Max, and the easy fix chocolate pills. Fortunately we have Jesus. He is the only one that can change and transform our hearts. As we lay our bad habits at his feet, exposing them, he can and will enable us to replace those habits with good ones.

Here is the problem. In our microwave, pill-popping, plastic surgery altering culture we are often oblivious to the change Jesus has done. We want the big event, the grand finale. We want the before and after picture right now. My advice to you (and myself) is to listen to the whisper in the wind (1 Kings 19:11 – 13). Look back on 2007 and find the ways that Jesus has changed you. It probably isn’t the major shift you were hoping for, but small movements towards Jesus. A transformation of your heart as he makes you more like him, small events that build on each other. God is steadfast in his love and he is very patient.

Pastor JD