ON THE VANGUARD

KEEP MOVING FORWARD
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:18-19

The year 2009 is coming to an end. Not only a year, but a decade. When I think back over the last ten years, I see many blessings. I remember the days when my children entered the world. I remember my first day at my current job. I remember my wife and I buying our first house. But not all the memories of these past ten years have been grand. I also remember the miscarriage, the divorce, and learning that my dad has ALS. These moments define our past, but they also define our future.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. After the world was first created and God was pleased, He created Adam and Eve. Their job was simple - take care of the land. We do not know how long after Adam and Eve were created till the time the serpent came which caused the fall, but we know that they both shared in the fruit and as a result, were banished from the Garden of Eden.
God could have stopped here, admitted defeat, and gave up. But He didn't. Humanity continued. Years went by and in time Noah was born and eventually grew up. Because he feared God, God used him in the next part of the plan. Noah built the ark and his family and he were saved. Although God wiped out all but these eight people, he still did not lose, and did not admit defeat. The actions of Noah were built on the actions of Adam and Eve.
And so the story continues. God could have wiped out all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet He spared Lot. God could have allowed the Philistine army to defeat the Israelites, yet he raised a man with a heart after His to defeat Goliath. God could have let the world go to hell for our sins and actions, yet He sent His Son to die for us. God could have left us in our sin, but instead He called us friends and showed His love (Jn 15:13). God never stopped, never admitted defeat, and never gave up.
I must admit that favorite Disney movie is Meet the Robinsons. This movie is a great example of what I am trying to say today. The young boy, so wanting to know his past, is taken into the future. In the future he finds that what he has always wanted, a family, he will soon have. But he also learns that his failures in science only make him better, as he learns to never give up. The theme of the movie is Keep Moving Forward, a slogan coined by Walt Disney himself.
Is it not true for us as well? In this passage from Isaiah, we are encouraged to not dwell on the past. Sure, we must learn from the past. We must take the lessons, both good and bad, and filter them to continue to make right choices in the future, but we must not dwell on them. We must move forward. God is doing a new thing. You and I do not know what all God plans to do for us in 2010, but can you not see that God is at work. By faith, God is at work, and we know from Jeremiah 29:11, that it is for our good. Things may look great for you now, but maybe for you they are not. Either way, God is making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
I encourage you with the few days left in this decade to recall the blessings that God has poured out on you. Thank him for these. But also remember the bummer moments, when the car broke down and you had no cash, when a family member died, or when you had to make an emergency trip to the ER. God was in all those times too, not testing you, but preparing the next step in the stairway you will you travel. He is doing a new thing right now...can you not see it?