Starting Over
Can you believe that it is already the first weekend in August? For most of us this has been a very busy summer. Thank God for the opportunity to serve Him!
Compaq is in the process of doing a huge lay-off and some of our finest people shall either be re-defining their roles should they remain in the company or are considering options with someone else. Thousands of Enron employees in this city have lost lifetime earnings and investments, and they are living one day at a time. Last Thursday I was informed by someone very active in the Houston business world that there is a possibility that Cantor-Fitzgerald, the firm that suffered the greatest loss through fatalities on September 11 in the World Trade Towers may be re-locating to Houston. Things are changing in our fair city; things are changing for some of the flock of Christchurch. On top of all this, our kids are getting ready to go back to college and school.
This is a good and natural time of the year to re-evaluate what you would like to do differently in your school, work or home. Let’s talk about it:
1. Get Past Your Past
The Devil is a master at taking our past sins and failures and making our future useless. If you can become pre-occupied with what you did not do right, it will be more difficult to focus on what you shall, by the grace of God, do that is right.
Like a creature from the dark lagoon, the past will slither up in your memory banks and scare today’s inspiration right out of your thinking process.
I like the conversation I had with one of our young people; they told me their goal was to be top in their class. I talked to another that has a goal of graduating summa or magna cum laude. I say, “Go for it!” If yesterday’s grades would forbid you to graduate summa or magna, then ace everything you possibly can and graduate cum laude (with honors). You will still be doing above average. See, that’s the problem of not getting past your past; it consigns you to the field of mediocrity.
If there was something you did that was not wise that may have cost you your former job, pray for wisdom and determine not to do it on the new job.
Let’s follow the admonition of the Apostle, “…forgetting those things which are behind…” (Philippians 3:13).
2. Make Up Your Mind
Determination is a great quality that will carry you through the roughest storms. What an amazing story! Last week, a pastor was in a small kayak off the California coast and was swept eighty miles out to sea in a powerful storm. Through the first night his kayak turned over no less than thirty times. He battled the elements for days and was finally rescued. The pastor should stick primarily to preaching (ha!). Seriously, God blessed his determination to battle the storm until he made it through.
Is anyone reading this who has felt like the boat of life has capsized about thirty times during “the dark night of the soul?” If so, make up your mind…stay faithful, stay true. “…Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
3. Tell Someone that Will Hold You Accountable of Your Dream
Joel 2:28 says, “…your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” God wants us to dream! You’re never too old or young; dreams transcend time. Dream of that better family life; dream of that job you have always wanted; dream of that goal that almost embarrasses you to share. Then go a step further and relate it to someone who will hold you to it! Jeremiah 23:28 says, “The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream….”
It is good to not only have someone dream with you, but also to have the added blessing of that person reminding you that with God all things are possible, even that dream which God implanted within your soul.
4. Define Your Call
If you are going to successfully start over, it may help if you define the call of God on your life. Make no mistake, every believer who reads this has a call of God upon his or her life. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7).
My heart has been thrilled to hear from our youth! Rebekah Messick told us of her desire to help the people of India. This summer she traveled to North Carolina to learn medical techniques in a special training. It is a blessing to talk with Anthony Johnson and hear him tell of his desire to be an orthodontist or some specialty in dentistry one day. I spoke to thousands of teenagers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this summer and just before I spoke, Andrew Johnson sang with his ensemble from Pensacola Christian College. What a joy afterwards to hear him tell how the college is helping to prepare him for the future ministry God has given him. This past week I enjoyed so much talking to Tyler Mitchell, hearing him talk of how he will take courses at college to better prepare him for medical school. I have admired how my son Jonathan is already finding the required reading for his college courses, determined not only to not procrastinate, but also to be ahead of the game and prepare himself for the future God has for him. I have enjoyed and appreciated my son Sean studying the different colleges and praying about his future and where he can best prepare for God’s plans for his life.
For all who are starting over…. it is good to see what the desire of your heart is (Psalm 37:4), define your call and then proceed in the direction of that call! “Neglect not the gift that is in thee…” (I Timothy 4:14).
I love you!
-Pastor Pope-