Preventive Maintenence

Dear Loved Ones,

   Happy new year to you all.  Like most of you, beginning a new year tends to make me focus on what kind of changes this new year will bring.  Each year, there tends to be two kinds of events we encounter, those we can influence or control, and those things which are beyond our ability to predict, control or even sometimes manage.  I have found that in many events the one thing we have the ability control is our reaction to those events.  And that control comes from personal preparation, the cultivation of the "Soul Life" that enables us to view life's challenges from God's perspective.  Our reaction to the storms of life are forged in quiet hours we spend in God's presence, where our character is forged by the hand of our loving Father.  

   This week I had surgery on my great toe (They don't call it the Big Toe any more I guess!)  As I am recovering I am thinking of this procedure called a Cheilectomy, where they went in and shaved off a piece of my toe bone, and carved off a few bone spurs that have been forming.  This surgery, minor as it was, was a little painful, but it is intended to prevent some serious complications later on in life.

   Thus it is in our spiritual journey.  As we enter into the task of Growing in Christ, we must allow the Great Physician to carve away those "minor sins" and to help us to conform to character of Christ that is forming within us.  The Formation of "Christ in us, the hope of Glory" is precisely the thing that will enable us to face whatever 2008 brings.  Attend to your quiet times.  Read the Scripture.  Pray a lot. Serve each other.  God will build that character which will prevail in this coming year.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Ron