Second Presbyterian Church

Happy New Year, SPC Friends!

I really enjoyed the church’s first worship service of the year. It was fun to play “Family Feud” on Sunday morning as we chatted about our New Year’s resolutions.

I talked a bit about the difficulty that I have in maintaining my annual resolution to put God first in my life. My conversations with friends following worship confirmed that this is a challenge that many of us face.

As we move into 2012, I’d encourage you to join me in re-reading Matthew 6: 31 – 33 and Proverbs 3: 5 -7. God’s message that He knows exactly what we need and that we should simply trust Him (instead of ourselves) is a profound reminder of the amazing gift of God’s care that we so often overlook.     

On Sunday, I was remarking to Andrea Phelps that our commitment to refocus on our faith in the new year can easily become exactly like a new gym membership where we commit to “get in shape” (and even pay the annual fee) before we get too busy to work out (or pray in the morning).

Loretta found a wonderful website that we have committed to try. It’s called “Examen” and can be found at “www.examen.me”. A variety of devotional opportunities exist ranging from a “read through the Bible in one year” daily assignment to a 7-day devotional on “marriage”. This is a free site!

If you are looking for an organized way to think through your faith in the new year, maybe you’d want to join Loretta and me as we try to stay focused on putting God first using the Examen website.

I’m grateful for your participation in the life and ministry of Second Presbyterian Church and wish you a very happy new year!

Blessings,

Pastor Billy

P.S. We have had lots of folks ask about getting a copy of the song that Loretta sang on Christmas Eve. The song, “Labor of Love”, was written by Andrew Peterson and originally recorded by Jill Phillips. If you’d like a copy, go to www.andrew-peterson.com/behold.