Looking Ahead

There’s an old Peanuts cartoon strip in which Lucy and Charlie Brown are together on the deck of a cruise ship, and Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “some people like to face their deck chair to the back, to see where they’ve been; other people like to face their deck chair to the front to see where they’re going. Charlie Brown, in the journey of life, which way is your deck chair facing?”
Charlie Brown is seen holding a deck chair and says to Lucy, “I can’t get my deck chair open”.
That appeals to my sense of humour, but it also reminds us that life can be such a daily struggle it is difficult to get our deck chairs open, to either reflect on where we’ve been or look to where we are going.
However, I think we have an exciting couple of months in front of us. It will be a time to look to where we are going, to renew our vision for the future. It will be a time to reflect on our personal callings and ministries. It will be a time to re-commit to the God who has called us.
I have called our come series ‘Stepping into God’s Future’, because He has already gone before us and we are seeking to follow. Do you remember how God led His people out of Egypt? We are told that He went before them, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21,22). That meant they could travel by day or night. They didn’t exactly know where they were going but they knew it was God who was leading them!
Likewise the New Testament records how the gospel message was spread as the Lord ‘opened doors’ for Paul and his workers (2 Corinthians 2:12).
That is true for us in our ministry as God’s people. He has opened doors for us and gone before us. In recent years He has gone before us in developing a café ministry, in opening the hope centre, in drawing together a wide mix of people of faith and good will, of fresh ideas and creative ministries. He is going before us day by day and week by week as we reach out and live out the reality of Jesus in our lives.
Life never stands still and God wants to lead us in planning for the future. Please be part of our series – if you are not normally part of a small group, could you join one for those six weeks? Put one of our vision events (June 7 or 8) on your calendar and the All Church Celebration on June 23, and pray for me and our leadership that we might discern these times and honour God as we move forward in mission.
The world is changing but the needs of people remain. In the midst of much hardness of heart, there are many who sense their need for God. Let us open our deck chairs, if we can, and make this a season to look to where we are going, where God is leading us, and catch the refreshing breeze of His Spirit.