Jonathots Daily Blog
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Every January 1st, a preacher friend sends me an email with his prophecies for the new year.
His predictions are always pretty general–and also grim. I guess he thinks it’s a safe bet in a world of tribulation, to foretell disaster.
- Yet there is no love without giving.
- Faith dies without passion.
- And hope disappears without dreams.
It’s just too easy to be upset.
It’s way too predictable to continue to complain about the circumstances.
Yesterday morning when I arrived at Carteret United Methodist Church, I was looking for people who were fed up with being depressed.
I think Pastor Frank was pretty surprised at the turnout. After all, it was New Year’s Day and a tremendous opportunity for folks to use it as an excuse not to come to church.
But they didn’t.
We gathered, we sang, we mused, we laughed, we cried, we fellowshipped and we left–believing that certain things must be honored, or honor will leave our world.
1. Love your neighbor is not optional.
Although we spend much time in diplomacy and negotiations with countries which are determined to hurt one another, the truth of the matter is, our greatest possibility lies in the souls who still insist on loving and believing in each other.
2. Be of good cheer.
Nothing is ever accomplished from a defeated position of gloom. If knowing the facts upset you, then choose the bliss of ignorance–because in the long run, it is not intelligence or education that saves us, but rather, the wisdom we garner from the data that gives us the power to believe.
I so enjoyed the congregation in Beaufort, South Carolina–and may I tell them:
The good news is that there’s a song of praise that needs to be written every day.
And the better news is that I, for one, want to meet my Creator with that song in my heart.
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Jonathots Daily Blog 