Look back in wonder

I'm writing this on New Year's Eve. As a good Scot that means I've been desperately tidying up ready for Hogmanay (tidying being something I do very little of on the other 364 days!). I'm not planning any New Year's resolutions - although I can tell you a grand way to keep them, if you're interested (see below).* Instead of looking ahead to my soon-to-be-broken and wildly unrealistic resolutions (anything involving a tidy flat or desk), I'd rather look back on the never-broken faithfulness of our wonderful Lord God. In our last church homegroup meeting of 2007, we had a prayer time where it was suggested that we each thank God for one thing during the past year. We prayed... and prayed... and prayed... No one was able to restrict themselves to just one thing - there was SO much to thank God for! For myself, one of the highlights was the time spent with Christian brothers and sisters in South Africa - being thrilled by their enthusiasm for serving God, and encouraged by their faithfulness to Him. Looking further back, I was privileged during the travels on my sabbattical to meet many Godly people - separated by thousands of miles, but joined by a mutual trust in the Lord Jesus. Many of them are also joined by a common desire to teach God's Word faithfully to children and young people. My prayer for them, and for you, and for myself, is that we will all be able to look back in wonder as we see how God has worked in the lives of the young people we serve, and then look forward in trust to all that He will do in the coming year.

Happy New Year to you all!

* I once resolved to read the whole Bible during the year. I then admitted this resolution to 400 people at an all-age service, and asked them to check up on me. I can confirm that this is a very effective way to stick to a resolution!!