Hope Is God's FLU Shot at the Start of the New Year

This is one of the few times New Years is on a Sunday. Everyone has a pole in front of them as they start their yearly journey. My pole says 80. It means I have been traveling this life for eighty years. It tells us how long we have been traveling, but not how long it will be. That is why each New Year needs to be celebrated. It is a precious time for us all.

We saw the Movie "New Years Eve". It was not an academy award type but it had good actors, a good script and being a New Yorker for some twenty five years I was a bid nostalgic around Times Square.

One word stood out for me. It was "Hope". It is what we do on New Years. We hope. We hope things will work out for us. We hope our relationships will be well and healthy. We hope we will perform well. This is all well and good, but what if it does not? If things do not work out well, we lose hope. If our relationships turn into fights, we lose hope. What if we fail to meet ours or others standards? We lose hope.

What is the answer to this coming year? St. Paul tells us as Christians "Since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never lose hope." II Cor. 4:1. We never lose Hope because we never know what God is going to do next.

Hope is rational when it is defined. Christian Hope is spiritual when it is experienced. We can only experience Christian Hope. I cannot tell you what it is rationally, only experientially.

Let's try to do it. Jesus told us, in Him we would have Peace, in the world tribulation. John 16:33 Think of a past year when things were the most turbulent for you. Everything just seemed to cave in. Wonder what difference it makes as you think of that event when you are experiencing the Peace of God. If you are doing that right now, you are feeling Hope.

"Nothing can separate us from the Love of God." Romans 8:39 Think of a time when a relationship was over. It could be everything from a broken relationship to the death of a loved one. As you think of it, feel the difference being in the Love of God makes. If you feel the difference, you are feeling Hope.

Jesus promised us a Joy that no one and nothing can take from us. John 16:33 Think of the time you failed most terribly in your life. Discover the difference, right now, that being in the Joy of the Lord can bring happiness into this dark past.

It has been said we can only learn from our failures. Once we learn, we need to move on. Have you understood the point here? Once we are in the Presence of God's Peace, Love, and Joy, we will have a Wisdom we never could have when out.

What difference does it make as you come into the flu season if you have had your flu shot or not? If you have not, you must be careful of where you are going, who you are going with and what you are doing. If you have had the shot it does not concern you where you go, with whom or what you are doing. That is because you are immune to the flu.

Being in the Presence is like this. It makes us immune from being over whelmed by events, others or ourselves.

God so loved the World that He gave His Son. Ask yourself for what did God give His Son? God gave his Son For the Love of You. That is what Hope is. Hope is God's spiritual FLU Shot. It is FOR the LOVE of U.

Those who Hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

Now that is immunity!

During the ministry time we will offer those who wish a chance to receive a spiritual FLU shot. They will be anointed with oil and Blessed with the Words. "God gave His Son For the Love of U." It couldn't hurt.