Upward Devotional for January 18, 2014

Saturday mornings this time of year find me working the floor of the gymnasiums at our church in Midland, and at the high school across the street, offering halftime devotionals during Upward Basketball games.

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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Good morning, everyone ... and happy new year to all of you! Let me have a show of hands here ... how many of you made New Year ‘s Resolutions for 2014? ... 

(some hands go up, including my own)

Okay ... now ... how many of you are still keeping those resolutions? 

(some of those hands - including my own - come down)

Resolutions — looking at ourselves, looking around us and thinking, “this could be better ... I could do better” — resolutions are a good thing to have ... for ourselves, our family and our community. And while resolutions have become a customary part of celebrating the new year, they are a good thing any time of the year. On a Thursday afternoon in November, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd at a cemetery in Gettysburg Pennsylvania, honoring the soldiers who were buried there, saying “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

And you know what? God approves of resolutions, encouraging us to put the past behind us, and move toward a better future ...

Don't remember the prior things; don't ponder ancient history. Look! I'm doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don't you recognize it? I'm making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. – Isaiah 43:18-19 CEB (Common English Bible)

That kind of resolution could make for a great future ... let’s all resolve, all of us, right here-right now, across this great nation and around the world ... let's all of us resolve to meet that future together. 

(prayer)

Thank you everyone ... enjoy the game!

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Upward Sports, by the way, is one of the the world’s largest Christian sports program for children, and was created with a vision to provide the best sports experience possible for every child. An estimated 1-million people around the world play, coach, referee or volunteer in some way to support Upward sports activities, hosted by more than 2,600 churches - there are four churches here, in Midland, including my own First Presbyterian. 

The organization notes that, "anyone – children and volunteers of any faith or no faith – can participate in Upward Sports. Specifically designed for children in K5- sixth grade, Upward aims to bring out 'the winner' in every child – regardless of the game’s score."