“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from a childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” -2 Timothy 3:14-17

            As another year comes to a close I want to look back with you over some of the events and other things that happened:

·         Feb 2nd - Seattle Seahawks defeat Denver Broncos 42-8 to win Super Bowl XLVII

·         Feb 17th - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon premieres on NBC

·         Mar 8th - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history

·         Jul 14th - The death toll from the West African Ebola outbreak passes 500

·         Sep 4th - Archeological remains of a Viking fortress from the 900s CE, the Vallø Borgring, is discovered in Denmark

·         Sep 11th - South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is found not guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp (and is later found guilty of culpable homicide)

·         Sep 18th - Emma Watson delivers an address to a standing ovation at UN Headquarters in New York City, helping launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate for gender equality

·         Nov 25th - Protest erupt across US after a decision by Missouri grand jury not to bring charges against a white policeman who shot dead a black teenager

·         Dec 3rd - Protests erupt in cities across the US after a grand jury decides not to charge the NY police officer who killed Eric Garner with a choke-hold

Now that is a very brief overview of what our 2014 looked like. There were probably some things on this list that you knew about and some that you might not have. There are so many more things to put on this list to help give future generations an understanding of what our year was really like that it would take me until next year to put them all on there. Get it, next year, because that’s tomorrow.

Anyway… If I asked you to put together a timeline of your 2014 what would that look like? Did you get married or engaged? Did you have your first child? Your first grandchild? Did you graduate high school or college? Get some big job or promotion? Move across the US or across the world? Lots of things happen over the course of a year don’t they? Lots of good things and maybe lots of bad things, but what about God things? How many God things can you point to in the last year? I know for me and my wife there are so many in the last few months that I can’t even remember the ones from early in the year. Along with those God things, how was your relationship with God?

Were you talking with Him on a daily or weekly basis? Did you let your faith go by the wayside because there were enough other things going on in your life that it didn’t fit? Or maybe you decided that Sunday mornings were enough and you didn’t need anything more to do with Him. Whatever your relationship timeline with God was this year it’s okay. It won’t be perfect, and it won’t always fit your schedule. The best part about your relationship with God is that it can always improve. There are always ways to build that relationship and each day is a new day to start building that relationship again. So as we go into the new year, I want to encourage you to spend a little more time with God to see where He is at work in your life. The best place to start is to open up the good book and see what He has to say. If you need a place to start here is a resource for you to dig around and figure out what works for you: https://www.youversion.com/

I pray from my family to yours that you have a blessed new year celebration and that God would remind you of the hope we have in Christ for the coming year. Let’s talk next year!

Question of the Day: How was your walk with God this year? What can you do to spend a little more time with Him on a regular basis? Have coffee with the Most High!

“A relationship with God is the most important relationship you can have. Embrace it every day.”

 –Anonymous