January 2008
Dear Friends,
Happy
New Year! I haven’t made my resolutions
yet, because I’ve been assessing my situation.
I’m a big one for resolutions, not because I keep them 
all
year long – who does? – but because I don’t.
That’s why I’m a Christian! Forgiveness
and second, third or fourth chances are ours anytime we want to try again. New life is a promise that can begin on the
first of January or the thirteenth of June.
We don’t need to give up with a despair of failure when we make
mistakes, and become like Eeyore, who knows better than even to begin a hopeful
attempt. Instead, because of the
abundant promises of full life that are ours in Jesus Christ, we can be like
Winston Churchill, who famously said, "This is the lesson: never give in,
never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or
petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield
to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." We yield only to the guidance and providence
of God in Jesus Christ.
And
in praying and mulling over my spiritual state, and where I want to go this
year, I noticed that on the morning news shows in these first few days of 2008,
experts have been paraded out to make their predictions about where we’re
headed in fashion, food or finances. I
heard one financial maven declare, “Call me a fool, but I’m bullish about the
stock market. I think we’re going up,
and a great year of growth lies ahead.”
It suddenly occurred to me that while I know little about economy, I
know about people, spiritual energy, and our church. And as your local God guru, I feel compelled
to announce that for 2008, I’m bullish about our spiritual growth! Call me a fool, in fact please do, for we are
called to be fools for Christ, but in Him all things are possible (Phil 4:13),
and I predict great things for our church this year. In fact, we must do great things. There are only two choices when living lives of
faith: moving up and moving down.
Standing still doesn’t work; if we’re not climbing up, we begin to slide
down. So what are we 
going
to accomplish? Great things? Miraculous things? You bet we are. I predict that this year we’re going to begin
to expect abundance, hope and joy – and the beautiful aspect of God’s reality
is that when we expect abundance and joy, we immediately experience it.
Together,
we’re going to make miracles happen in 2008.
Our faith as individuals and as a church is going to thrive and
grow. You want to know where to invest? In the love of Christ. We can do it!
And it’s not only that we can, we will. I feel it.
Feel it with me. Join me in
church and let’s pray the roof off the place and fill this new year with joyous
change and the coming of the
Peace
and joy,
Martin
To read Martin's letters from past months, please click here.