Easter- The New Year

I have a notebook of my mother’s writings and one that caught my attention was on calling Easter New Year’s, rather than January 1^st.  History tells us that New Year’s has not always been celebrated on January 1^st; it depended on what culture you were a part of, for when it started. We are taught that the calendar that is accepted internationally is the Gregorian calendar. This calendar was created by Pope Gregory XIII in the late 1580’s.  The Gregorian calendar is a refinement of the Roman calendar that Julius Caesar created a few years after the death of Christ. So, who is to say when the true New Year really occurs?

When Christ arose from the tomb, He thereby gave us a way to have a new beginning through His death, through His blood, through His through salvation, through grace the forgiveness of our sins. We are promised in I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faith and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Easter, when Christ arose, gave mankind a new beginning.

Happy New Year! Celebrate for Christ arose!

Lessons from Super Bowl 2017

One of a few lessons from the MBA program that stayed with me is a lecture that a professor taught on lessons learned from watching the super bowl. Although not a huge fan of football, I do enjoy watching a few games, mainly the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl and since that lecture have taken away lessons to use in life from each game I have watched.

This year’s super bowl had no appeal for me, but I felt obligated to watch some of it so I could converse with our community residents. While I admit to not watching the entire game, I still had several take-aways to incorporate as lessons. First, the winner is never truly known until the final few seconds of the game. In other words, never give up trying to win. Keep getting up when we are down or behind.  We should always press on toward the goal as Paul admonishes us in Philippians 3: 14 to do just this: “Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me {us} to complete”.

Lesson two is never rest on your laurels. The past is just that; today is what is happening now and requires your attention. Success entails work, a continuing of getting back out there in the game and giving it your all. Just because you may be ahead of everyone else, it is not the time to become lazy, careless, or arrogant about where you are at.  In verse 13, Paul “forgets what is behind and strains toward what is ahead”. We should not count our losses or lament about what our failures or regrets. God wants us to look up; as in football, to keep our eyes on the goal.

The third lesson is that to win, we need to go deep. It is not enough to just gain a yard to two at a time; more is oft needed. To go deep as Christians, it is imperative that we dig in to the word. A little skimming, or just attending Sunday morning services is not enough to win. Paul admonishes us in 2 Timothy 2:15a to “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed”.

The goal of the teams competing in the super bowl is to win. As Christians, our goal should be and do our best so one day we, too, may hear “well done thy good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21a).