Happy New Year

As we begin the New Year, I want to tell you something important about me. It is a good thought as we begin the year, because it’s probably true of you too.

It happened when I was doing something else. Frankly, I hardly noticed. I was so surprised when I saw it, I almost didn’t tell anyone for fear they would think I was too arrogant and prideful. But then, I had nothing to do with it. It sort of snuck up on me. So I guess I can’t be proud of it or anything.

I should have expected it. I had been told about it often enough. It was just that I was seeing so much of my own sin, I felt that the hope of anything approaching it was silly. I had prayed for it, but the prayer was one of those prayers you don’t really think God will answer.

Then I looked and found that…..I was starting to look a little bit like Jesus.

I know, I know. You’re saying, “Lou, have you lost your mind? OK, you have arms and legs and Jesus probably had those too, but He had hair too, and you are woefully lacking in that area.”

Wait…..it’s true. I’m beginning to look a little like Jesus. I’m thinking a little bit like Him and loving a little bit like Him. I’m thinking of myself as a servant a little bit more than I used to. And, not only that, I’m a little bit kinder, more compassionate and a little bit wiser…..just a little bit more like Jesus.

In 1952, on a foggy morning in California, a young woman by the name of Florence Chadwick dove into the cold water off Catalina Island. Her goal was to be the first woman to swim from that island to the California coast. She was no amateur. She had been the first woman ever to swim the English Channel in both directions.

She began her effort well enough, but the water was very cold. Finally, after some 15 hours, growing numb with the cold, she asked to be taken out of the water.

Chadwick’s comment to a reporter was profound. “Look, I’m not making excuses,” she said, “but if I could have seen the land, I might have made it.”

If you can see the land, you can keep at it.

January is up on us and we’re looking at another year. I don’t know about you, but I’m not altogether happy with doing it all over again. Seems that I just learned to write “2006” and now I have to change to “2007”.

I’ve found that when you’re over the hill, you start picking up speed and, frankly, age is a high price to pay for maturity. To be honest, I don’t want to go any faster, and I’m not into maturity, at least, more than I’ve got. So, I greet the New Year with mixed feelings…..

…..until I realized that I was beginning to look a little bit like Jesus. He is the “first born” and that means He is the prototype of what is happening to me. I’ve got a long way to go, but God promised He would complete the process and when I finally see Jesus, I’ll look just like Him. The New Year is full of hope, because during this year I might look even more like Jesus.

If you can see the land, you can keep at it.

I’m not going to make any resolutions this year. I can’t stand the guilt when I break them. But I am looking a little bit more like Jesus and you, as a Christian, are too. You really can keep on trucking if you can see the land.

Oh, by the way, even if you don’t look like Him very much now, He will still love you. If you can see the land, you can keep at it.

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