2017 A Happy and Blessed New Year!

December 31, 2016

Isaiah 43:19 – “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

Here’s a cool promise for 2017. Some of us have been through hard times in 2016…a sort of wilderness experience, where we lost our focus or felt like God was hiding from us. He wasn’t! Some may feel like 2016 was a dry wasteland, like your life has been a waste; your soul was dry and God seemed far away; you feel like you added nothing to and have nothing to show for 2016. Give your 2016 an “It’s a Wonderful Life” perspective and you will be encouraged…even in the worst of times!

Don’t believe the 2016 lies! Believe that God is the God of new things! The God of second chances! Believe that He will make a pathway through the wilderness in 2017...that He will lead and guide you with a renewed purpose. Believe that He will create rivers in the dry wasteland. We just have to stay in the flow of His Spirit…the Rivers of His Spirit, sit back in the raft, and allow Him to take us wherever the will of His Spirit flows!

A year ago, I could have said all that I just wrote about 2015. And in 2016 I watched God work in my life to fulfill these promises in Isaiah. Desire an endless depth of intimacy with Jesus, have a ruthless trust, and watch Him do amazing things in your life in 2017. I pray He will!

Pile Drivers of Life

December 30, 2016

Florida State Road 87 is what I drive to work every day. It is currently under construction and that includes about a one mile Yellow River Bridge expansion. (I know…it’s really called Yellow River Bridge and it wasn’t built by I.P. Daily!!)

I have been fascinated to watch the bridge expansion develop. They position these huge concrete support beams (up to 75 feet high) into the river by a crane that sits on a barge. Then the beams are pounded into the river about 30-40 (maybe more) feet deep by a pile driver. The other day as I was driving by, I heard the sound of that pile driver pounding against a beam as it was driving it into the riverbed. It was a booming noise.

Then I thought about the “pile drivers” in life.

Sometimes I feel like that beam getting pounded into the muck and mire of life. There seems to be no end. The pain is excruciating. And then the pounding stops. Little did I know that God was using that pounding to not only plunge me into a deeper relationship with Him, but to prepare me to be the bridge that supports those on their journey who need to get to the “other side” safely. Not unlike Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” I will lay me down to support that “bridge.” Don't fear the pounding! We must always be willing to support others on their journey. Thanks to those who have been my support through the years!