It won't be long now, 2010 is getting away from us.

It is now Tuesday, December 28, 2010 and the days are slipping away for this year. While I am not that big on making resolutions, I do believe in looking at where we are, where we have been, and in finding areas that we can do better. I am working on my lesson for this coming Sunday and it is entitled Closer to Heaven in 2011. I chose this topic to help myself and our entire class to appreciate our identity in Christ and our citizenship in His kingdom. Having that as a focus for the upcoming year will help us to live based on the reality of who we really are as opposed to just trying to cope with our everyday existence here in this world. Some folks think you have to live based on the here and now more than anything else. While that is our plight each day, the truth about who we are in Christ and how that we are actually His ambassadors as we pass through on our way home actually informs our daily ability to deal with all that comes to us in this life. All of us have this attraction that connects us to this world and if we are not careful, that connection clouds our appreciation for the true life we have in Christ. Our enemy would like nothing more than for us all to be totally preoccupied with the ups and downs that come to each one in this life. I'm not talking about a life lived up in the clouds because living a life closer to heaven in 2011 should help us to prioritize our time, the use of our talents, and the way we handle our treasures. I'm still not settled on the best passages that teach this heavenly mindset but there are many to choose from that tell us while we are in this world we are not to be of this world. That will not happen automatically. It requires that we immerse ourselves in God's Word because that's the reality for us as believers. Have a great Tuesday and if there's something you really wanted to get done this year, perhaps a contact with someone, or an act of kindness you intended, now would be the time to go for it because as we all can see, it won't be long before we will be looking back on this year! May God bless one and all! Amen.                   .......More later.