A New Decade!

I was listening to the DJ on the local Christian radio station this morning when he started talking excitedly about the coming of the new decade.  He called it a time of new starts and new life.  I’m not sure why, but his comments also got me excited!  The thought of it being the beginning of a whole new decade seemed to make it even more interesting to me.

Over the last few weeks I have been increasingly sensing that God has some special plans for me beginning in 2020.  And while I firmly believe that He had nothing to do with Piper’s early exit from this world, I firmly believe that He knows my future and plans to be very much involved in it! 

I am also beginning to have some hints about how He is thinking about doing it.  For example, I recently realized through a series of happenings… coincidences… some may say, that I need to return to my spiritual roots at Rhema in the new year.  It dawned on me that the very foundation of Piper’s and my adult spiritual and resulting physical lives began when we connected to that ministry way back in the mid-1970’s. 

As I’ve stated before, the practical teaching of faith literally turned us on our ears!  It ignited a fire deep inside of us that was fanned to white hot flames throughout the next 40 some years.  It was the understanding and reliance on the Word of God that got us through the roughest as well as the most blessed times in our lives.  It is that same unmoving faith in God’s Word that got me through the last years of Piper’s life when her lovely self was slowly stolen from me, our family… and the rest of the world!

And now… as I enter into a totally new adventure in life without her… I need that same foundation continually building inside me to freely move on to fulfill whatever it is that He has for me to do for Him.  Truth-be-known, I most likely need it more than I ever did before!  Many things are and will be different for me in the coming days, months and years… but my life’s foundation… the strong foundation of my faith… will stay the same!

I also burst out laughing earlier today, when that same DJ told how he inadvertently left his Bible at church after the recent Christmas Eve service.  He related how he received a call from his Pastor yesterday telling him that he had found the Bible and had it in safe keeping.  Then he stated how the Pastor nonchalantly mentioned how he had gone through the book and highlighted several unrelated verses just so that when the DJ had passed, that his kids would have a good laugh as they looked through the book and tried to figure out the things that he was studying!

That caused me to giggle because I many times, think the same thing when I underline or write notes in my favorite Bibles (I have well over 50 translations!).  That thought has been magnified when I go through Piper’s Bibles and look at her notations and highlights.  It just makes me feel closer to her as I try to imagine where she was and what she was thinking when she made them.

When I finally got to concentrating on my Bible Study and not the antics of the radio DJ this morning, I honed in on 2 Peter 3:12-13 where Peter wrote about the last of the Last Days events on this earth.  He said, “Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day— but we'll hardly notice. We'll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.”  (The Message)

That statement got me to thinking about the way faith is supposed to work in us Believers.  We are to be more focused on the results of what God promises than in the physical circumstances that surround us at any given time. (Read through the so-called “Roll Call of Faith” in Hebrews 11)  That’s the lifestyle of Piper’s and my faith that got me/us through those last eight years of her life.  I wouldn’t and couldn’t afford to get lost in what I saw happening right before me with Piper’s mind and body, nor with the looks and/or words of unbelief, fear and utter defeat emanating from those I came into contact with, in person or on the phone on a daily basis!

Peter tells us that in the last of the Last Days, while the world is panicking over the terror that’s physically going on around them… that the faith-filled Christians will “hardly notice!” because the focus of their faith is on God and His promises to them.  We’ll all be excitedly preparing for what’s next according to His Biblical plans for us!  Pretty cool wouldn’t you say!

So, the way we live our lives today… is the way we’ll live our lives when the end of life as we know it today, comes to its God planned conclusion.  That’s why I plan to stick to my roots!

What roots do you have that keep you grounded when the terrors of life attempt to encroach on your lives?  Something to think about as this decade comes to a close and a new one begins… wouldn’t you say?

Have a great New Year’s weekend, and as you do, think about this post and spend some time personally talking with our Heavenly Father concerning the wonderful new adventures that await you ahead in 2020.