New year

So, we are now in January 2015.

I remember some years ago listening to some songs which were looking forward with aspirations to the year 2020. It sounded like such a long way away and now it seems in a blink of the eye and we'll be there. They were singing of an end to all of the world's big problems - but now if it's really just a blink of the eye away, those songs which talk about man destroying everything seem much more likely - unless of course Jesus the Christ returns.

They say that in different cultures we have different ways of looking at things - some look just at the now, some are always looking back, and some are always looking forward. I think these are all helpful things to do.

Think back over 2014 - what's changed? How have you been challenged? Grown? How about others? Nationally? Globally?

Think forwards through 2015 - what's coming up? Any changes? Challenges? Concerns? Think forward beyond 2015 - what are you most excited about? Why?

The world we live in often encourages people to make new years resolutions. I don't know how this stated our where it came from but it is what many people do, and actually that is not a bad thing. The problem is that these resolutions have often become something to wish without putting in any work or effort and so the words are empty.

If you're making any new years resolutions this year, let's make real ones. Ones which takes into account where we've come from and where were going - not just where we're now. And let's be men and women of our words, and follow through - not giving into darkness but remaining in and/or pursuing the light.

So while I don't generally make new years resolutions I feel like I should be sharing with you so if I were to make one it might be something like... To continue and progress in all that I have already begun, reaching and keeping to micro targets/goals along the way, while keeping true to myself and growing closer to God. Okay, if I really made them this would be bullet pointed and more specific but you get the general idea.

God bless.

Draft 1

It was the year 19...

No, no, no.

The day was bright and cheerful when...

No, no, no.

You might wonder...

No.

This is the story of...

No.

...

Whenever anyone writes anything, they are telling a story. Whether it's found in a newspaper, a text book, a diary, a loose piece of paper, a novel, a sign, or the back of their hand - it is a story. So I suppose this is just a story too even though it feels like much more, since it actually happened. In some ways it's a story about one person, but in other ways it's a story about lots of different people, and in another way it's a story that's not about any of them.

Most stories start at the beginning. They do this by establishing a time line, setting scenes, introducing characters -or- establishing common ground, or the level of man's understanding thus far -or- explaining the purpose of the story. This cannot happen with this story for to do so would be to go back to before the beginning of time, and while I am certain of events which transpired at this time before time I certainly cannot describe and explain them in any great depth and I fear to do so would take you away from the real story I am trying to tell here.

Have you ever had a dream? I don't mean the magical and scary things which dance before our eyes in sleep, or the vague hopes of someone for when they're a little older. I mean the type of dream which grows inside you with roots that reach into the centre of your heart, the kind that perhaps you're not even aware of, sown from fear which never seems to go away unless this secret dream can be realized. Some might call it hope, but for me hope is something different. Hope is given and certain although not yet, while a dream is created by you and never certain until it is the now.

He had a dream tied up with family, acceptance, and provision, but really it was all about love - giving and showing it generously; receiving and being worthy to receive it.