New Years

So how about 2008 is going to be completely and utterly awesome? It certainly started out with a bang. A couple of us from youth were able to go to Winterfest at Liberty University to see tons and tons of different artists, hear all kinds of amazing speakers, and just chill and get to know the other people who went. It was INCREDIBLE. Oh, and I won a $12,000 scholarship to go there!! And Mitch Figueras won an electric guitar signed by the artists!! There are no words to describe it. 

Me, Ashlin, and Amanda all shared a hotel room and we went crazy in those wee hours of the morning. ("Can you smell my eye?") We discovered a secret (LOL) and played Buzz ("I think that's cool" "Buzz!" "I think that sucks!") constantly. We mixed drinks ("It's called 'Mad Chocolate Cow Disease... wanna try it?") and stood in line for an endless amount of time for food and while waiting to get into concerts (Big Booty!). The ice skating... well some of us weren't that great and some of us were. Oh the joy. Oh the laughter. 

But amidst all the fun (and there was tons of it) I really learned a few great principles. One of the speakers on New Years Eve talked about how we are a dispassionate people, how we Christians in American basically think we have it bad when someone pokes fun at our beliefs when people are dying, becoming martyrs all over the world because they are hated for what they stand for. And yet they continue to stand, being bold in Christ. So this New Year, this generation needs to make that stand, because we are desperately needed in this world that is becoming so black. We are being called by God to rise up, to speak, to act, to make known His mighty name and so proclaim His everlasting Word of life, truth, and redemption. We do not need resolutions. We need a revolution. We need change and we need it badly. This generation has become stagnant in the puddle of our self-righteousness, and we are blind to the fact that we are drowning in our complacency. The time to be an undercover Christian is over. God needs less detectives and more cops, to make a childish analogy. God is calling His children all over the world ( yes, here in America too) to make known their faith and to let themselves submerse themselves joyfully into His plan for their life, which will always come out to be to glorify Him and make Him known. Anything else we try to do, anywhere else we try to fit ourselves in, will make us utterly miserable. So what are we waiting for? What are we doing to break the mold? Are we truly succumbing to God's plan, become missionaries in our schools, workplace, and homes, or are we just sailing along, going where we don't need to be and trying to fit in where we don't fit, therefore becoming dissatisfied? 

This year, 2008, is going to become a year of revolution only if we release our grip on this world and it's offers and run to a place of never-ending light. If you're quiet, we need you. If you're loud, we need you. If you're scared, running, happy, introverted, extroverted, funny, serious, whatever- we need you. Take that stand. Proclaim His goodness and love, His peace and mercy, His compassion and His judgement and the day of salvation, because our time is running short and the hourglass is "glued to the table." Someone out there needs Him, and therefore, they need you. So do something about it.