Many of you probably heard your pastor preach last Sunday about the new year as an opportunity for you and your church to look ahead and move forward. Such a sermon is timely and appropriate. But your church home isn’t your only “family of faith” – I hope you consider TBC and me to be “family” as well. That’s sure how I feel about you.
In that spirit, I’d like to talk to you, too, about moving ahead in the new year, but in my Currie Cowboy way, and I think you understand what that means – raw honesty and candor.
To be honest, I will not look back on 2008 with many fond memories. But, being a person of faith, I can’t help but mix the good stuff with the bad as I reflect on last year.
Bad Stuff/Good Stuff – No Joke!
Bad Stuff: Mother went through a lot, including undergoing two brain surgeries to remove blood on her brain and having to leave the home in which she had lived for nearly 48 years.
Good Stuff: Now she is at Baptist Memorials in San Angelo, and I see her more often than I have in the past 30 years, as I eat lunch with her twice a week. As it turned out, we still had a wonderful Christmas at Paint Rock like always.
Bad Stuff: Since last Christmas, my wonderful brother-in-law lost both his Dad and Mom.
Good Stuff: Their passing was a blessing for them, for both of them had lost much of their quality of life, which was very sad for a couple that had once been so vibrant. I still remember the special time in Sweetwater, years ago, when my brother-in-law, his Dad, and I played golf together and won a flight. I’m a horrible golfer, and that will never happen again, but experiencing that with them was special. My brother-in-law’s Dad was a giant of a man and very strong.
Bad Stuff: Many of us had a great deal of our retirement accounts wiped out and investments, if we had any, which is very disturbing and scary.
Good Stuff: Ah, ummm, interest rates are low on my ranch loans. But let’s face it – financially, it was just a flat bad year, and I can’t come up with any way to whitewash that fact.
Bad Stuff: As the year began, the BGCT was still working its way through a tough time, and many were worried about its future.
Good Stuff: The BGCT Executive Board hired a remarkable man to serve as Executive Director – Randel Everett – who lives out integrity, competence, and grace, and has a deep passion for the lost and being Baptist to the core. We continue to have a bright future as a denomination and convention. And yes, friends, just realize, the BGCT is free as a denomination, and that’s something to get excited about.
Bad Stuff: TBC really struggled financially, and we would have struggled even more without the help of some very good friends and an end-of-year surge in giving.
Good Stuff: TBC made some very significant contributions to BGCT life in many ways last year and have put in place some programs that promise to have a great impact on the future of Texas Baptists. We also had a great Convocation in August, giving us the opportunity to show people the kind of work we’re doing and how they can get involved in it. Besides that, we added Kerry Horn as Associate Executive Director, and Kerry is helping us connect with more pastors and provide the help and encouragement that they need.
Bad Stuff: I lost some good friends in 2008 and went to more funerals than ever before.
Good Stuff: Every friend I lost loved Jesus, so they only transitioned to a better life and a closer walk with Christ. Isn’t that awesome when you really think about it!!!! But it still hurts, and I still miss them.
So where do we go from here?
John Claypool had great insight when he said that life is a series of exits and entrances. We exit one stage of life and enter another – birth to childhood; childhood to adolescence; adolescence to young adulthood; single to married for many of us; from no children to having children; student to career; adulthood to senior adulthood; and other stages as well.
So it is that we leave one year behind us and start a new one. This year – maybe more than since 1969, following 1968’s assassinations, riots, and continuing war in Vietnam – we enter 2009 with a deep desire, and even a need, for something new and different and exciting and passionate.
I started the New Year by speaking on religious liberty at a local meeting on January 5. Oh my Lord, I loved it. I felt so alive, so passionate, so happy while I gave that speech and took questions.
If I have one request for 2009, it would be to give that speech at least 100 times across America. I want it so bad that I’ll come if you will promise even 20 people in your living room. But I would love to do it in churches all across America on Sunday or Wednesday nights. Please call or email me, and ask me to come. Nothing makes me feel so alive and worthwhile as getting to speak and share on this particular subject. There’s nothing more Baptist than religious liberty, because Christ is all about freedom, and Baptists are all about Christ.
In that spirit, let me encourage you to do one thing in 2009: Find your passion . . . what excites you . . . and give yourself to it with abandon. Make an impact. It will make you feel alive. You’ll feel alive and like you are starting anew. Make it a wonderful year for you and yours.