Initial thoughts for 2025

Hello!  Here it is over three weeks into January, and I’m finally submitting my first blog.  Since I am, thankfully, alive and well, it is time to begin 2025 content.

Before I jump into what I want to discuss today, let me share that yesterday I heard a sports segment on the radio where the expert gave his prediction on who would be in the Super Bowl this year.  His pick: The Washington Commanders and the Buffalo Bills.  With due respect to the Eagles and Chiefs, this would be my ideal matchup.  Behind rookie quarterback Jaylen Daniels, Washington defeated the Buccaneers and then stunned the 15-2 Lions to get this far in the postseason.  Meanwhile, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills seem to be on a mission to get to the big game; they have to defeat the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs to do it, but considering that Buffalo did defeat Kansas City back in November, I can see them doing so again.  You know I could go on and on with this, but that’s my two cents worth.

Recently, I heard the song “Do it again” by Elevation worship.  I was so blessed to hear this work again.  It begins with these words: “Walking around these walls, I thought by now they’d fall, but You have never failed me yet.  Waiting for change to come, knowing the battle’s won, for You have never failed me yet.  Your promise still stands, great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness.  I’m still in Your hands, this is my confidence, You’ve never failed me yet…I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains, and I believe I’ll see you do it again.”  At this time of the year, it’s entirely possible that many have failed their New Year’s resolutions.  While I’m all for resolutions and self-improvement, I think it’s far better to fix our eyes on the Lord, on His faithfulness, not human inconsistency.

When I heard that song by Elevation worship again, I confess I was getting a bit emotional.  Because I resonate with the lyrics emphasis on how God has never failed me.  I can’t help but quote a slogan from Bud Light; for years.  They used to falsely proclaim that this product “never fills you up, and will never let you down.”  It’s not true.  Everyone and everything else will let you down eventually.  But not God.  In my own life, I have seen God do incredible miracles, move mighty mountains.  Lamentations 3 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (verses 22-23; ESV).  

Let me conclude with this.  It’s important to never forget God’s divine, miraculous intervention.  We are so prone to become amnesiacs when it comes to the works of the Lord.  The next crisis hits and, if we aren’t careful, we forget how mightily the Lord has previously shown up.  It’s so important to “remember to remember” as my pastor recently put it.  Remember how the Lord has been faithful; how, in days gone by, He showed up with “a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 26:8).

God bless,

Kevin