Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
@#$%
Quickly, the end
of December is approaching; and
you know what that means.
Annual reports.
I can't believe
it's time to write another annual report.
Of course,
considering annual reports come annually, I guess it makes sense.
@#$%
I'd rather look
forward to the future than look at my, uh, behind.
Few things are
less appealing to me than writing or reading ecclesiastical rationalizations,
uh, I mean, uh, annual reports.
That's because I
envision churches as passionate, forward-looking, mountain-moving,
evil-busting, mission-fueling stations more than museums or mausoleums.
Silly me.
Philippians
3:12-14.
@#$%
Last year's
disappointments can't be changed.
Last year's
successes are like last year's winners of the Super Bowl - irrelevant to now
and then.
Christianity is
so much less about what was and so much more about what will/can/must
be.
@#$%
I believe
Christianity, at His best, is more about making living memories by building
upon the best of the past for a better today and tomorrow than wasting so much
time on what's over and done and longing for the way things never were or maybe
were but are no more.
I believe
Christianity, as His best, is more about trusting His "better" than
before by making room for His fresh ways of knowing Him and making Him known
(see Matthew 9:16-17).
Simply, God is
always up to something better than before in our lives and we must make room
for His improvements.
@#$%
Of course, these
are tough times for everybody; and there are no sociopoliticoeconomic
indicators suggesting things are going to get any easier any time soon.
Surely, we know
tough times expose more than build character.
That's the
worldly reality.
True.
And the greater reality is
overcoming the worldly reality because of the Wordy truth: "The One
who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John
4:1ff.).
@#$%
Oswald Chambers
wrote, "Our Lord said, in effect,...'You are to have no end, no aim, and
no purpose but Mine'...When we are born again, we all have visions, if we are spiritual
at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be
disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained."
Philippians
4:1ff. comes to mind.
That's why we
look forward instead of at our, uh, behind(s).
@#$%
Advent recalls
His first coming as the Babe of Bethlehem, continuing coming into our lives as
Holy Spirit, and ultimate/final coming to usher in the Kingdom in all His
glory.
That being
said/true/understood, annual reports, at His best, are at, uh, His best when
concentrating on who we can become
so much more than how we've been.
I think that's
what it really means to prepare the way of the Lord.
We are getting
ready for His advent(s).
It's about
praying and wanting and working to face the future more faithfully.
It's so much
better to flush what's in our behind(s) in favor of moving into a future
molded after His likeness.
@#$%
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
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