New Year, New Beginnings

A fresh year! A chance to start again and reimagine our future! I just love the hope that a new year brings and the opportunity to refocus and begin again. Let yesterday's failures fall behind you. Join with me on the beginning to a new path, a new life, a different way of seeing yourself, others, and God. He is for you! His love is so deep that he sent Jesus to the earth to redeem us from our broken state and offer us eternal life if we follow Him. As good as that is in itself, our God also promises to be with us each step of the way giving us the strength we need to live out our lives in a way that honors Him and blesses us.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

                                              Hebrews 12:1-2

We don't have to do this on our own! In fact, God goes before us. 

Let me encourage you further with some great words from Oswald Chambers on how God sees our past, our present, and our future. This is from the book My Utmost For His Highest, taken from the entry for December 31:

"You shall not go out with haste,

. . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" —Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday. “. . . God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. “. . . the Lord will go before you . . . .” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste . . . .” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.

Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.

Time for Change

What is ahead for 2024? Only One knows. We do not, and so I must follow my usual end of the year routine. This is a "Pray and Plan" season. I wait, and I read my Bible with my heart open to hear from God, and I ask for Him to speak. Impressions in my heart, scripture I've read for years may "come to life" and stand out in a new way, or unexpected words from someone I trust. These are some of the many ways He talks. As I write down goals and ideas, a pattern forms as I submit them to God. No, I don't always hear accurately, but my heart is to honor Him. He alone holds the future. And in Him I trust.

(Photograph copyright Economic Times,U.K. edition.)

Epcot at 30: Why Epcot Can Never Return to Its Glory Days

I am going to contradict myself. Today, I'll tell you why Epcot can never return to its glory days. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how it can. 

Walt Disney's vision for EPCOT, and the Company's vision for EPCOT Center after Walt died, were based on an optimism that no longer exists.  There was a bright hope for the future that solidly  permeated America, and especially those that were the public faces of the company Walt built. 

It's almost as if Walt demanded that kind of optimism from his team. In fact, I would say this is why his Imagineers were successful- he always told them they could do it, even if they themselves had no belief it was possible. And often they did. They tried the impossible, making the company a present day think tank that was wise enough to gain additional knowledge by partnering with the experts of the day. Be it the government, the businesses or the people, the company had enough clout to be taken seriously.

Walt was beloved by the American public, so when he passed away, the country and the world went into mourning. In some ways, we have never recovered from it. We've exchanged hope for gloom, hard work for handouts, and passion for getting by. Our politicians play on our need for something different, but they rarely encourage us to go after it ourselves. Even many men and women of faith- especially those who serve the God that raised His Son from the dead for our benefit- have given into despair and given up. Why wouldn't our country follow suit?


We've changed. Our age of innocence and hopefulness in the future has disappeared. This is reflected in the business world, where research and development have given way to cheap profits earned at a very high cost. Our jobs now go overseas at alarming rates. As a nation, we have devalued people for so long- and yes, starting with those still in the womb. We've forgotten the value of life from conception and that changes just about everything going forward. When people are not first and are reduced to handouts to pacify them, it's every man for himself and every business only exists for cold hard cash. Mankind as a whole suffers, selfishness wins. 

A business is no better than the people who make up its leadership and those who are employed by it. Should we be surprised the Epcot of old can never return?
 

On the level of theme park, visitors now want thrills. This means the suits- including the shareholders- desperate to keep their own personal bank accounts full, press the designers to add thrill after thrill, diluting the power of the theme unless it is excellently done. The story behind most thrills seem to be comprised by setting the stage for fright and terror, not optimism.

The age of "edutainment" in the theme park world may also be over. It seemed people want to be taken out of this world of worries and not be encouraged to think, even if it is in an interesting and even fun way. 

Where does that leave the second Florida park? In a state of constant flux as the leaders hedge back and forth for a direction. Perhaps Epcot cannot return to its glory days- but maybe it can. Come back tomorrow as we wrap up this series with a hope-filled ending.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Photos copyright Mark Taft.)

Christmas Changes and Challenges

"Transitions! Difficult? Yes, but it’s what God is constantly doing in our lives. He is all about transitions. The only things that are constant are God and change. We see it throughout ‘HIStory’. God is continually taking his people out of, into, or through transitions for his own glory and purpose. Remembering the lives of Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah, Paul and many others we see that God never really left these men in their comfort-zone for very long. Their lives reflect the fact that God is always orchestrating our lives, our ministry, and our families for what is coming upstream. During these times we can often feel confused, fearful, and sometimes rebellious. We want clarity, but we must let go of clarity... and trust.

Two thousand years ago, God orchestrated the greatest transition of all time. Jesus entered the world, became flesh, lived and died for us so we might have a relationship with Him. This transition changed history and the world forever.

“What is going on here?” “This can’t be!” “What are we going to do now?” “How will I tell my family and friends?” How can God do this, at a time like this?” “Things were going so good!” “Now what are we going to do?” “Just look at what is happening here, it can’t be good!” “Why doesn’t God do_____?”

Haven’t we heard ourselves say these things? And yet we see that God is the Faithful One who will provide, and give us vision and strength for the near thing, even when the distant is clouded. Now, after 10 years in overseas missions, we find ourselves in this season of our lives, waiting on the Lord, again letting go of the need for clarity and remembering His faithfulness in all the times of uncertainty in the past.

Last month we attended the National Missionary Convention in Atlanta, and interestingly, the pre-conference topic was ‘transitions’. It was very enlightening and encouraging to be reminded, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” The term wait has the meaning of ‘twist’. We must twist ourselves around the Lord, and take on His character and be strengthened.

Let us encourage you if you are going through any kind of transition. Jesus came into this world to change EVERYTHING, and because of His willingness to be changed, to enter human flesh and dwell among us, we have the power to be changed and endure change.

“We don’t get to pick the assignment or the suffering that we can endure, we can only pick our attitude” Tim Dogett on ‘Missionary Transitions’ "

A note to me from friends who remain anonymous due to the nature of their work...

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Midnight at the Oasis

Traces of romance in my head...

Visions of today when I watched one man die and another emerge through the ancient rite of baptism. New hopes rise, old sins die, life begins anew in Jesus Christ, the creator of the world.

Thinking of the power of forgiveness, not just towards us from Him, but from us towards others who have wronged us- and being delighted that change is coming and change has come. Real change, the kind stronger than political rhetoric from all sides. Freedom.

Sending my camel off to bed...with joy. (Another post later today...)