Happy New Year!

Stacey and I brought in the New Year with my sister Rachel and brother in law Ricky at our house. We played a few games of "In a pickle" and "Things..." and had a great time. We drank hot tea and Ricky drank coffee from my new Keurig machine. It was much fun. We turned on the t.v. at 11:57 p.m. to watch the ball drop in N.Y. Then at midnight, I leaned over to my wife and gave her a kiss and wished her a happy new year.
Now its about 12:30 and Ricky and Rachel are gone, the dog is in the garage, and Stacey is asleep and I sit here and ponder on 2008.
Many great things happened this year: Early in 2008 we found out we were going to have our third child! That is rather life changing. Alex, our son, got saved this year! We had a great couple's retreat at church. Our Summer Explosion meetings were tremendous. Two of our young ladies at church got married to terrific young men..and they did it w/out playing the dating game. Can you believe they prayed and focused on becoming what God wanted them to become and God brought them a young man without them having to date 40 guys....amazing isn't it? We had one of our best Mission Conferences at our church. Hope was born in September! I wrote a Christmas play which our church performed this year and it actually turned out o.k. Had a great Christmas and now here I sit wondering what 2009 holds.
All I know is this...I am glad I know Who holds 2009. As I enter this new year I am thankful for the Lord and His leading and working in my life. We have established for our church a theme for 2009 "Victory Through Christ." I truly expect God to give many great victories this year for our church and families.
One great mystery I have never figured out is this...why wouldn't someone want to let God have His way in their life? My best conclusion is this...they are afraid of what He might ask of them, and we are very selfish people and love ourselves dearly.
A verse that has been on my heart this week is 2 Corinthians 14:14:

for I seek not yours but you:

God doesn't want what is mine, He desires me. Isn't that wonderful! The Lord loves me! That is one of the problems with society today. Wives don't want their husband's money, they need their husbands. Children don't want their parent's gifts, they need their parents. Sometimes we are afraid to listen to God because we are afraid of what He might ask of us...tithe, time, children, job, hobby, our sin.
God wants you...a total giving of self to Him. When we get there, the other things will not matter.
So this year I seek to take a fresh look at God's Word and my life. I seek not to do what every other pastor and christian does, but what the Bible says for me to do. I seek to have a closer relationship with the Lord than ever before-knowing that He seeks not what is mine, but me. That truly will make a Happy New Year.