Facing the Future With Confidence

I have had several days off from school due to the cold weather in the middle of the U.S. It does appear that we will finally get back to school tomorrow! This has been a good time to paint the living room and dining room in our 1930s era Sears home. We are attempting to return to more of the look of the 30s, colors etc. The living room and dining room are now Sage and the stairs up are Oyster Bay (green and tan for those color challenged like me).
Our pastor had another great sermon on Sunday and it started with a question he was asked when interviewing as a candidate for Bishop in the UMC; if you had five minutes with the president of the U.S. what would you say? Dr. Bias made some really good points that can be boiled down to some thoughts that brought joy to a history teacher's heart. The Renaissance brought us the Age of Reason and the Scientific Revolution which brought us the ideas that we can solve all our own problems. The Age of Faith was replaced by the Age of Me. We now have enough history to examine that a conclusion about the success of that change is clear. . . it hasn't worked. Our problems have continued to grow totally unabated. The time to recognize our need for a relationship with our Lord is more important than ever. Our prayers must align us with God, get us working WITH God and not trying to change God. Prayer is a submitting process, submission to God's way, it is working with God, a pursuit of holiness that can only come by recognizing we don't have all the answers. This life is bigger than us. There are problems that can only be solved by God, even problems in our own life. God is not going to act unless we are willing to cooperate. We can't call out the evil without submission to God and following Him in trust and obedience. Evil won't be thrown out by a dictatorial God but by a relationship and partnership with a living and loving God. The impossible becomes possible to those who trust and obey. May our new leaders recognize this, may we recognize this and begin anew an Age of Faith. God is good, He has taken us to a church where our faith is challenged regularly. If you are in Peoria, looking for a church try us, First United Methodist, downtown Peoria.