Persistence

I just got home from my last Elders Meeting of 2010.  Tomorrow, weather permitting, Sandy, Tricia and I will get on a plane for Dallas and we’ll spend Christmas with Andrew, Kara and Grace.  While we’re in Dallas we’ll get to see my mom, my sister Candy, and my Uncle Mike Nuthman and his family.  I’m really looking forward to our time away.

I’m also looking forward to what God is going to do both in and through Mount Pleasant Christian Church in 2011.  At our Elders meeting we went through our monthly “Ministry Report” where we were able to see some of the highlights of the past month.  The truth is there have been many highlights in 2010.  Throughout the year we spent our time in studies like Contagious Generosity, A New Command, Where is the Hope (a verse-by-verse look at I Peter), Let’s Pray, and The Joshua Project.  On the weekend after Easter (April 10/11) we had the incredible experience of baptizing 114 people in our four services.  Our Easter weekend, Patriotic weekend and special Christmas weekend were all outstanding.  This year’s Christmas services saw a record attendance of 4,930.  In 2010 we saw the completion of a massive re-model of our facilities that included Bibleopolis, an interactive children’s ministry space that is absolutely incredible.  There were Mission trips, VBS, Sports camps, a Blue Bell ice cream truck at our Volunteer Appreciation picnic- I could go on and on. 

As I think about 2011 I understand the importance of things like vision and strategic planning.  But I’m also convinced that one of the most important elements of continued growth and ministry will be persistence.  To that end let me share a series of inspirational quotes and truths about persistence.

If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. No one would have remembered him either. --Unknown

Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. –Unknown

There is nothing so fatal to character than half-finished tasks. -- David Lloyd George

We can do anything we want to as long as we stick to it long enough. --Helen Keller

The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success. --David Sarnoff

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. -- Theodore Roosevelt

Failure is our teacher, not our under-taker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It's a temporary detour, not a dead-end street. --William Ward

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. --Calvin Coolidge

It is never too late to be what you might have been. --George Eliot

So long as there is breath in me, that long will I persist. For now I know one of the greatest principles of success: if I persist long enough I will win. --Og Mandino

Genius, that power that dazzles mortal eyes, is oft but perseverance in disguise.
--Henry W. Austin

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. --Dale Carnegie

Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. --Samuel Johnson

As inspirational and challenging as these words are they pale in comparison to what Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  (NIV)

Here’s to continuing to discover the power of persistence.  I love you all and I’ll see you next year,

Pastor Chris

Dreams

One of the interesting things about the Bible, the Old Testament in particular, is that God often chose to speak to people through dreams.  Personally, I don’t believe God speaks to us through dreams today in the sense of revealing things.  Revelatory dreams in the Bible took place as God’s Word was unfolding.  Now we have it as a finished product, and it’s all we need.  And while I’m no expert on dreams, I believe they are, for the most part, subconscious thoughts that reach the conscious level when we are asleep.  I’ve read that dreams are usually a projection of fears, anxieties, tensions, hopes, ambitions, etc.  One of my favorite authors and preachers, John MacArthur, has written that it may be possible that you have a dream connected to a specific passage of scripture because that’s what you’re studying.  He goes on to say, “The Spirit of God might even prompt you to think a certain way in a dream.  I know some people have had very fearful dreams and it has driven them to know Christ.”  I guess the bottom line is that God may use something like a dream to accomplish His purpose but not as vehicles for some new revelation.    

Some people wake up with a vivid memory of their dreams.  That’s the way my daughter Tricia is.  When she has a dream she can (and will) tell you all the details.  Me, on the other hand, I have dreams, but I have a hard time remembering more than bits and pieces.  But here’s something interesting.  Recently I have had several dreams in which my children (26 and 22) are young again.  I don’t really remember anything significant about the dreams but my children are there, and  it’s like I’ve stepped back into time. 

Now, I like seeing them that way.  Andrew has a little round face, and Tricia has that curly blond hair.  But I’m not sure what, if anything, this means.  Maybe it’s because we’re about to get a new baby in our family and that has been a big part of my thoughts and prayers.  And while I have had many questions about her as we anticipate her arrival there are, I know two things for sure.  First, she will never be wanting for love.  Second, she will be special.    

When my children were young, I chose a special Psalm for each of them, and I read those Psalms as a prayer for their lives.  For my son, I chose Psalm 112.  It begins like this: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.  His children will be mighty in the land…”  That word “mighty” in the Hebrew language basically means “honored” and “distinguished.”  The idea is honored and distinguished for their virtue, their influence, and their success in life.  Those are some big words and big thoughts for such a little baby and while I don’t know exactly how those things will unfold for little Grace, I genuinely believe God will make them true.   

Maybe I’ve been seeing/remembering my children when they were very small in my dreams as a way to be reminded that God holds little lives in the palm of His hand.  I see their tiny faces then, think about them now, and know that God has always been in charge of their lives just like He will be in charge of Grace’s life.  In the end I’m thankful for those dreams, those memories and that reminder. 

When Andrew and Tricia were young, people would always say, “Enjoy every minute, because they grow up too fast.”  They were right.  Now that baby Grace is on the way, people always say, “There’s nothing like being a grandparent.”  I’m very confident that they’ll be right once again. 

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris