Well we are at 2015.  As we step into the new year, what will it be like for you.   Some years are good years and some not so much.  Every year has its blessings and then the other stuff.  Some years have more of one or the other.  You might be glad 2015 is here, ready to leave 2014 behind, or you might be reminiscing about how great last year was.

 Much of what we experience in a particular year is completely out of our control.  Circumstances and events good or bad, happen to us.  We of course, have the ability to react and respond to them, yet we sometimes feel like a ping pong ball on the sea of life.  Staying afloat but not really getting anywhere.  For many things that is just the way it is.  But if that is the case in our walk with Jesus, then we somewhere along the way made a choice, and not the right one.

 In relationships (and much of life) we can either let them be and let them slide into the least common denominator, or we can impact them with effort.  Stagnant, boring, lifeless relationships are not caused because people are stagnant, boring and lifeless.   They are caused because people become tired or lazy, mostly the latter.  Dynamic, passionate, growing, life giving relationships are not accidentlly arrived at. They are developed and maintained.  There is no greater place where that is true than in our walk with Jesus.

 So at the beginning of this year I want to focus our attention on our relationship with Jesus.  How is it?  Is it close?  Are you getting close and staying close?  My hope is that 2015 is a year for just that.  Circumstances will impact us, but in our choices about our relationship with Jesus, we have control.  What choices will you make in the coming year?

 I hope to see you at church where we will explore together how you can get close and stay close to Jesus.

 God bless,

Pastor Chris