So, it’s Wednesday night. Actually, it’s more like Wednesday evening. Tonight would normally be reserved for student ministries. We typically follow the school calendar with Mosaic, meaning that if school is off, Mosaic is off, so that explains my early post and the reason we didn’t have student ministries tonight.
The last month has been a whir of activity. My job at The Salvation Army kept me busier than I ever thought possible. It was tough keeping it all together. Once Christmas arrived, we went home for Christmas, which was really good. Yesterday we got home and as the old Bob Denver song goes, “Hey, it’s good to be back home again.” Today, I went back to work for one day at Salvation Army and tomorrow we have off — what a wonderful word. Unfortunately, that busyness has kept me from writing anything significant for the last month. Tonight my head is a little clearer.
One of the blogs I read regularly is from Mark D. Roberts. He had a great article that reflected back on a former church. He asked the question:
What did I do that really mattered?
Tonight is New Year’s Eve. I really feel in a reflective mood this evening. As I write, I can glance over the top of the laptop to our Christmas tree. I’ve been thinking about one of our former churches quite a bit lately. One of the reasons is that we have a beautiful tree topper and ribbon that was made by one of the ladies at First Wesleyan in Flint, MI. Our family has joined the Facebook group and we have put up several pictures from our time there. Several years ago, I had the chance to go back there and preach. Now that was an experience because while I was there, I never preached — I never felt up to that time that God was calling me to do that. I was the worship pastor and tech guy. When I went back to preach, I had the chance to experience that church all over again. What was amazing to me, was the number of things that I implimented while I was there that were still in place. That gave me a great feeling. Preaching there was cool too. Since I have pastored in small churches, I have never really preached to a large crowd. That was one of the few times that I had to preach to a big crowd. It’s amazing how much easier it is to preach to a larger crowd. As I look back, was there anything that I did that mattered? Yes, we made advancements in the Kingdom of God.
That becomes the question today. Pam has written several posts reflecting back on this year. In reflecting back on this past year, what have I done that really matters? What have you done this year that really matters? By really matters, I mean what things have made a difference in the Kingdom of God? I challenge you to look back and determine — as I write I am thinking about those things — what really mattered in the Kingdom of God? What did you do that made a difference in the Kingdom of God? That question begs a second question; What will you do in 2009 that will advance or make a difference in the Kingdom of God? The answer to that question, could make a world of difference.