The new year has begun. It really is just another day, but we as humans add so much significance to the day. It gives us a point to look back on the previous year and then look forward to the next.
2018 was an interesting year. Had some really high points, but it was also a year that seemed to add an unusual amount of stress on my part.
This was the year that saw my oldest boy marry the love of his life. What a joyous event. My youngest became a teenager, what a stressful thought.
My parents reached a milestone of 60 years of marriage in 2018. What a great example they’ve been to myself as well as my children.
My youngest two boys are as active in sports as ever and I love to watch them play the sport of baseball that they both love so much. My daughter has grown in to a beautiful, independent young woman. My oldest, as I mentioned before, became a husband. Of them, I couldn’t be prouder.
While I may not always show it like I should, I fall in love with my wife all over again each day. She is my strength, the calm that cures the storms that I tend to create around myself. She is the woman whom I hope to reach 60 years of marriage and beyond with.
So what about the new year? What will it bring? What are my plans? How do I intend to approach 2019?
Well I intend to take it one day at a time. Believing that God has a plan, that God will guide my feet and show me his path. Believing that God will use me in wondrous ways and make it clear how he wants me to serve him.
In my reading this morning, I am reading in John 21. Where after the resurrection of Christ, the disciples are fishing with no luck. Jesus appears to them on the shore, though they didn’t recognize him;
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not recognize that was Jesus.
-John 21:4-6
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No, ” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
See, I’ve felt like those disciples in 2018. I’ve seen the resurrected Jesus and I believe…but I was still fishing on the wrong side of the boat. I still was casting my net for Christ in the wrong places. It was leaving me unfulfilled and hungry.
2019, I intend to listen to what Jesus is telling me and cast my net on the right side. I will listen to his teaching and follow his lead. You can see what happened when the disciples finally did as Jesus said. They finally caught some fish, But maybe even more importantly, we see what happens next.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “it is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him and jumped into the water.
-John 21:7
See, once Peter recognized Jesus for who he was, he didn’t wait until the boat got to shore. He just jumped in with both feet. Bringing the boat to shore would take too long. He wanted Jesus now.
I want to start 2019 as if I’m jumping in with both feet. I want it to be a changed me, not just in the New Years Resolution type of way, but in a complete transformational way.
Will I falter, I’m pretty positive I will. Will others read this, then look at me and say, “I see no difference.” I hope not, but I bet it will happen. I’m a flawed human being, in need of a savior. So I expect I will not be perfect. What I do know is that because I have a savior that is forgiving, loving and nurturing, I have hope, hope for 2019 and for all eternity.
God bless you all and I wish for everyone, a happy 2019.
Exceptional Christian 