We stand on the brink of a New Year, with all of the possibilities of a fresh start and the opportunity for yet another new beginning. There's something about fresh starts and "do-overs" that all of us like. Sometimes you just want to shake up the Etch-A-Sketch and start over. That's what New Year's promises, even if it is just another day.

As we push the "reset" button for 2020, I am not going to suggest that you make any New Year's resolutions, but I will recommend a few choices.  We all have decisions before us as to what we will do and who we will be in the year ahead, and those choices will be grounded in the real-life priorities that shape our lives.

As we look back a year from now and evaluate the lives we lived in 2020, whether we will have succeeded or failed will largely be determined by the choices we made, and the good habits we developed from those choices. Let's make good choices, to live our lives according to God's will.

Specifically in regard to our church, I am excited and encouraged about what God is doing in the life of our fellowship. There is a fresh wind blowing, as the Lord stirs us and pushes us from our comfort zone, and continues to take us "deeper." And I believe God has great things in store for us in the year ahead as we serve Him together.  However, we are reminded that "our church" collectively is made up of a bunch of individuals, all of whom have our own choices to make.

With that in mind, I wanted to specifically encourage each of you and your family to commit yourselves to do at least these five things in the New Year: 

• Pray diligently.  Our church will only be as strong as our prayer lives, as we seek God's direction and His moving in our ministry. We can do what we can do, or we can ask God to do what He does. I prefer the latter. So...let us pray.
• Attend faithfully. Every member of this body needs every other member, both as we gather together for worship on Sundays and as we connect with one another in community in our small groups. So, "let us not forsake assembling ourselves together."
• Serve selflessly. Like Jesus, we're called to serve, more than to be served.  Ask God to give you a servant's heart, and then open your eyes for opportunities to use it. See how you can give your life away in the year ahead.
• Reach out compassionately. It is time we regain our passion for seeing lost people saved. They need hope. We have it. Share it.
• Walk humbly with God. Ultimately, that's God's will for all of us, all the time.  (Micah 6:8)

Happy New Year to each of you! May the Lord bless you and your family abundantly in the year ahead. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday for our final gathering as a church body for 2019 with a great day of family worship together. 

--Pastor Ken