Dear friends and family, my hope is that in this season you have tasted of God’s love through others who love you.  If you made an effort to give Jesus a present this year, I hope we’ll get a chance to hear how it went and all be encouraged.

This Sunday will be a 5th Sunday.  We usually have a dinner, but we’re all partied out with  the holidays just past.  So we will have a regular service.  Linda wants to share something from the archives of Pastor David’s sermons for Sunday school that she feels is a message that will bless us as we continue into the new year.  I’ve joked about us getting two sermons on Sunday, but this time it’s actually true.  With that in mine, I’ll keep mine a little shorter than usual.

In a few days, we’ll move into the year 2020.  For many of us, the coming of the new year prompts us to make resolutions.  They usually have something to do with personal improvement or achievement.  According to one survey, roughly 8% of those who make resolutions say that they kept them all.  Another 52% say they kept most or some.  At the other end, 8% can’t remember whether they kept them or not.  Maybe they made them on New-Year’s eve after having partaken too freely of the libations generally provided for the occasion.

We usually know what we need to do.  If we want to use the changing of the calendar as a starting point, there’s nothing wrong with that.  Sometimes it makes for a good way to start marking progress.  But here’s the question for you and for me.  If we know what we should be doing, “What are we waiting for?”  Tomorrow is not guaranteed to us in this life.  Let us begin today!  Our primary text will be James 4:17.  We’ll spend a little time on the context, and I’ll share some thoughts on the sorts of resolutions we might make and how our faith might guide us to something other than the usual.

Pray for and encourage each other this week.  Often the time after Christmas can be the hardest as the festive distraction is removed and we return to everyday life.

Love y’all!

Larry