Another Year Draws to a Close

Brothers and Sisters,

As another year draws to a close and we contemplate and evaluate the activities of the past 365 days, I wonder how many more holiday seasons we have left. Don't worry, I have no doomsday prophecy for our blog but, I have attended numerous funerals this year for men and women who, last year at this time, had no idea they would be in eternity today. What would they say if they could speak to us this day?

Will our group be intact for another year or will 2008 be the year that someone in our union, or in our immediate family will enter eternity? There are no guarantees and when I evaluate the past 12 months, I am so thankful for the way each one of you have challenged me to press on and press in. The let-down after Canton was inevitable but should this be so? Do we not have a far greater event and a far greater reunion coming? 2008 could be the year that I meet my Savior face-to-face. It could be the year that one of my brothers or sisters in this union will make that final journey. Since we poured out our hearts in prayer and fasting leading up to Canton, how can we slip back into the "ordinary" now, knowing that a far greater meeting is on the horizon?

In the same way that we would have been embarrassed to show up in Canton unprepared, let's press on and challenge each other to greater and greater faithfulness in 2008, as this could be the year we make our own journey into eternity. How embarrassing it will be to stand before our Savior and confess we were just too busy to pray, too busy to share the gospel, too busy to read the Word, too busy to love our spouses and children. Let us strip away anything that is weighing us down in this fight.

My prayer for 2008 is that I would finally begin to love Christ more than I love my own flesh. I pray that I would care more for the gospel than for my own beloved image in the eyes of sinful men. I pray that I would invest in the priceless treasure of souls that walk by me every day, blissfully unconcerned that they are headed to an eternity in hell.

Let us continue pressing on and pressing in!

Your brother, Steve