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January 2008 FROM THE PASTOR Dear FPC family and friends, Happy New Year! One of the things I got for Christmas was a new "Magic 8-Ball," new because I haven't had one since I was about Alex's age. It's as much fun now as it was then to hold the ball without looking at it, ask a very important question like "Should I wear these shoes with this outfit?", shake the ball and have the answer be "It is decidedly so." Or, for the younger set, to ask questions like "Will I be famous/wealthy/beautiful/handsome when I grow up?" and have the answer come up, without qualification, "Yes." It's harder to ask the Magic 8-Ball a question and have the answer come back something like "Answer hazy, try again" or even a flat-out "no." Even at my age, when I know that I'm playing a parlor game with a piece of plastic, it still gives me pause when I don't get the answer I'm expecting. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Celestial 8-Ball for the coming year? We might ask about an end to the war with Iraq, who will be our next President, whether we'll pass our courses, or whether this will be "the year" for that thing we've wanted desperately for so long. When I was younger and more foolish, I used to think that I wanted God to tell me what was going to happen six months out - if I could see just that far ahead, I thought, I could get through this present time. It didn't take much living for me to be glad that I couldn't always see six months down the road. The bad news for us is that, as we look out towards December on this calendar year, the best answer a Magic 8-Ball can give us is "Answer hazy, try again." But the good news is that our future does not ride on a Magic 8-Ball. Our future is in the hands of the One who said to us in Matthew 6: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear?Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?... your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." It is decidedly so. Your Pastor and friend, |
