Year in Review and Resolutions

Wow, in some ways it's hard to believe 2009 is over. Looking back, I just want to reflect on what I've learned this past year, and declare my resolutions (so others might help keep me accountable).

Lessons Learned:

1. God is faithful. Even when it seems like he's not there, He's quietly working in the background. God doesn't answer prayers with "no" and drops it...he gives us a "yes", but changes the focus of the request.

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:8-11)

2. God can use seeming tragedy in ways we couldn't expect. I've witnessed the death of my mother, only to have it bring my sisters and I closer and heal old wounds. I've witnessed unspeakable tragedy to a friend of mine, only to watch God use it to shower her with friends, loved ones, and bring her and her boyfriend ever closer together.

Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see f the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:40-44)

3. Reconciliation and forgiveness are some of the greatest virtues a Christian can demonstrate, because God in his infinite mercy and love forgave us and reconciled us to himself. If he could do that for us, who then are we to turn these gifts away from others?

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven...And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-22,33-35)

4. God can turn weakness into a strength. Those besetting sins which hamper us so, God has the power to turn them in to virtues of positive change. My intensity, which drives so many away, is also the power which gives me strength to persevere in organizations which are struggling.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

5. If we experience trials, they are not just for our sake, but for the sake of others as well. Therefore we should take joy in them, knowing that we can use those experiences to help others. It is through receiving the mercies of Christ that we then pour forth those mercies onto others. Our Christian walk should be a overflow of the love and mercy and grace God the Father has granted to us.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

Resolutions for 2010

By the grace of God, and with His help (and with the help of my friends), I resolve in 2010 to:

1. Lose 20+ lbs and get fitter.
2. Become a better steward of my money, and stop my deficit spending
3. Take a vacation (bike/hike trip) in Yellowstone or Yosemite
4. Run a 10K
5. Attempt a 1/2 Marathon