Happy New Year

     It is 6 a.m. on New Year's Day, 2010. I am enjoying a fresh cup of my favorite 100% Columbian coffee and the start of a new day. I hope this finds you well and blessed.

     There is something about even the word "new". Most folks love the smell of a new car or a new house. There is a tinge of excitement that comes with new things, and so it is with a new year. The Word of God says " . . . there is no new thing under the sun", (Ecclesiastes 1:9). God is eternal and is not bound by the limitations of months, years or days. We are temporal humans who live in time and space, and we experience the freshness and excitement of new days and seasons. Personally, I am glad. There is something good about starting again, and about new roads that we have never traveled. Even though there is a strange resemblance to yesterday, the start of a new year gives us the hope that things will be better this year.

     Some of you reading this blog have experienced a tough year. Perhaps you are battling a relentless disease, burdened over a loved one, or the loss of a job. So many have experienced the heartbreak of a nasty divorce, and are still reeling from its effects. Some of us are still sad, having buried some close friends during the past year. The point is, we humans have hope that the next year will be a little easier, but who really knows? I can assure you of someone who does know. While I may not know what my future holds, I know the One who holds my future!

     I do not see how folks make it without knowing Jesus. Living in this old sin-cursed world is hard enough with Christ as your Lord and Savior. I am glad He is my guide and protector; the Rock upon which I have built my life. It is upon that Rock that I intend to stay, by His grace. If your life is built on the fickle, shifting sands of this world only, when life's storms come your way, your foundation will crumble and fall apart.

     A new year affords us the joy of resolving to change some things also. Physically, some of us will resolve to eat less and lose weight. Some hope to stop smoking or begin an exercise regimen. Spiritually, some of us need to be better students of the Bible, and more consistent in prayer. All Christians need to be more committed to telling others about Jesus. Some hope to work on a shaky marriage. Financially, many are hoping to make or save more money. But most everyone has a deep desire for better days.

     The Bible assures us that, for a Christian, better days are coming. There may be some potholes and bumps along the way, but one glad day there will come a voice and a trumpet, heralding the good news that it is time to leave this old world behind! There is a place God is preparing for His own, called Heaven. It is the place I long for and intend to go some day. It is not some imaginary "pie in the sky" dream, but a real place of eternal joy and bliss for those who are in Christ. John wrote in the Revelation of a "new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1). He tells that the old will pass away, and all things will be made new. Friends, that fact buoys me on, and until then, I will carry on, with joy and peace in my heart. I may be ridiculed, mocked, and even despised, but I've got a home in glory land, that "outshines the sun".

     God's best to you, and His best is always His son Jesus! May you have a blessed 2010.