For the last few weeks, I’ve been watching people at work drop like flies.  We’ve seen so many folks out for cold / flu symptoms that it’s literally been a bit alarming.  I’ve been taking “Airborne” at least daily for the last few weeks and really felt like it was helping…

Perhaps it was – but it didn’t totally prevent what I feared… I woke up on Saturday feeling like I’d been run over by a bus.  What started as a headache, quickly spread to a seriously heavy-duty head cold.  What was a seriously heavy-duty head cold, is now settling in to one of the nastiest looking throats I’d seen in quite some time.  It looks like something from a Sci-Fi special features extra reel.  The sore throat is also spreading south (maybe it’s gravity…perhaps hanging inverted for a few days?) into a good chest cold / bronchitis / pneumonia, but it’s not quite there yet.

I still think that Airborne has helped – I don’t believe I’ll be out for a week like a lot of folks at the office have been, but I definitely don’t think it’s a good idea to head in tomorrow.

At least I made it through the holidays, huh?

Stay tuned – more to come…

Well, 2008 is over and we have, once again, the chance to “start fresh”.  Every year people take time to think about what has happened in the last year and try to decide how to change what the new year is bringing.  This can be any number of things.  Some of the most popular are:

1. Quit smoking
2. Quit drinking
3. Lose weight
4. Save money
5. Change jobs

All of these things are good – for the body.  But what about changing the things that are good for the soul?  A list of these items might look like this:

1. Go to church regularly
2. Go to mid-week services regularly
3. Read the bible daily
4. Increase my prayer life
5. Decrease my sin life

This year, I’m not making any resolutions, promises, goals, or any other targets for the year.  Instead, I’m agreeing to rely more on Christ and the Holy Spirit’s direction in my life.  I’m not spending too much time looking back, but am following the advice of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 - “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

My challenge for you is this:  Don’t worry so much about what last happened year (Philippians 3:13) or get caught up in planning what you’ll do this year (Matthew 6:33-34) but simply yield yourself to the leading of the Holy Spirit (James 4:7) and turn back from the things in your life that separate you from God (2 Corinthians 6:17).  God has a plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11) – let this be the year it comes to fruition.

Stay tuned – more to come…