God Has Not Quit

It's only been 2019 for seven days, and I've already written the wrong date on one document or another at least three times.  This is odd, because I was all too ready for 2018 to be a distant memory.

To be fair, there were lots of amazing things that happened last year. 

For starters, my eldest son got married in an epic wedding celebration that brought us all a lot of joy.  There were great trips, and wonderful family moments along with some fantastic church and ministry wins, too. 

But there were challenges--more than a few, in fact.  And some of them were hard to bear.  Not to mention all of the lunacy that was going on in the world around us.  There was that, too.  I have to be honest, there were times when I felt like my whole world (both inside and out) had gone completely mad. 

And I know intellectually that one tick of a clock on midnight of December 31st isn't going to make everything right as rain.  But still, I hope---the kind of hope that fills me with a sense of eager anticipation and renewal for this new year. 

Walter Brueggeman once wrote:

Hope is the deep religious conviction that God has not quit. 

I love that so much.  My deeply held belief that God hasn't quit, that God is still up to something amazing both in, through and all around you, me and everyone is incredibly energizing. 

We are living in the flow of God's renewing, restoring, resurrecting Spirit and no matter what challenges we face, we are not facing them alone.  Because God has not quit. 

Let that be your mantra today and every day of this new year.  Make it a part of your prayer life, your walking around whispers as you move through your days.  Believe it with your hole heart and be filled with hope. 

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.