A New Year's Poem of Dedication

As one year dies and another is born,

A searching question's due:
Have we lived up to the light we had?
Have we to Christ been true?

Or have we failed to do our part

To send His blessed Word
To those who stumble in the dark;
To those who have not heard?

Well, let us now forget the past,

Both failure and success,
And yield ourselves anew to God
To own and use and bless.

-- C.R.S.

My understanding of Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord
with all my heart, and
lean not on my own understanding
or past experiences;
in all my ways acknowledge Him
(be thankful to/for God),
and He (via the Holy Spirit) shall direct
my thinking and doing.

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Note: The following indicates a problem that is still a concern of mine for 2009.

A tale of two spirits

Posted: December 30, 2006
By Pat Boone

I've never felt this way before.

By nature, I'm an optimist. Always have been. And admittedly, I'm a practicing son of the Judeo-
Christian faith and, therefore, believe in a good God who loves mankind and who loves to bless
all His creatures, especially those who seek His will and try to share His love with others. And,
like most people of any or no particular faith system, my world travels have convinced me that
other folks are basically good, basically wish each other well. So I've come to each New Year's
Eve with a feeling of hope, for the long term, if not the immediate future.

But not this year.

We're racing to the end of a turbulent year, a painful and distressing year for so many of us, and,
as usual, we're straining to see over the edge, or around the corner, hoping something better lies
ahead.

And while there are surely many reasons for optimism, in technological, material and even
economic realms there are terribly dark storm clouds roiling over us, far worse than any
snowstorms temporarily crippling areas of our country. And, apparently, too few of the free
world's leaders seem to be aware of it. Or if any are, they misread or underestimate the danger.

I'll come right to the point. The whole world, every person on this planet, is soon to be faced with
a life-and-death decision – between two spirits.

I'm not referring to specific religions, although religion is intertwined with each of the two
spirits. No, I'm talking about two elemental mindsets, two visions of reality, two all-
encompassing approaches to life and death and the meaning and purposes of both. Two spirits –
whatever name they wear.

One of the spirits contributed to the formation and nurturing of what we think of as "the free
world" – those societies in which liberties and individual worth are championed, in which equal
justice for all is something to fight for if necessary; in which women have rightfully claimed the
same opportunities as men; in which government is proclaimed the servant of the people and not
their master; in which the needy and aged and helpless are deemed the responsibility of the
advantaged; and especially in which religious freedoms, no matter how diverse, are protected,
even encouraged.

The other spirit is determined to silence all dissent; to exercise absolute authority over all
humanity; to establish one religion that demands obeisance and devoted obedience (and can
execute any who disobey); a spirit that denies the equality of women and men and, in fact, has
little regard for the quality or value of personal autonomy or individual expression in any area.

Above all else, the first spirit values life itself. A beating heart, a living soul, is more valuable
than any material consideration or cause. It is devoted to preserving life and enhancing and
expanding its benefits to as many as possible – even promising eternal life to those who love
God and their neighbors as themselves.

The second spirit, in very serious ways, values death more than life. For decades, it has been
indoctrinating millions of vulnerable young minds with the macabre notion that killing others
who don't share their spirit is admirable, even and especially when they die along with their
innocent victims. These children are taught that those who disagree with them are not worthy to
live, that their lives are worthless, even a contaminant to their own world conception. And if they
die themselves while killing other men, women and children, a fabulous eternal reward is
promised by the spirit that permeates their idea of religion.

One spirit dictates what we call "the Golden Rule": Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you. The other commands that its adherents either convert, subjugate or exterminate the rest
of the world's population.

History, and any objective analysis, shows that wherever the first spirit has motivated a nation's
laws and society, freedom and quality of life has flourished in unprecedented ways – without
exception. But the same objective analysis shows that wherever the second spirit has controlled a
nation and its society, individual liberty and expression has been severely limited, women have
been subjugated, dissent has been absolutely disallowed and in spite of whatever resources and
financial wealth that country has, its citizens endure a quality of life far, far inferior to that
considered "average" in free nations.

And now, as we stand at the edge of 2007, most of the elected leaders in the "free world" seem to
think we can communicate and employ sophisticated diplomacy with those leaders motivated by
the other spirit. Those leaders not only think we're inferior and unworthy, they feel they're
commissioned and authorized to subjugate or eliminate us.

What are we to do?

The answer, it seems to me, is clear. Since we are the prize and the actual battlefield in this
elemental and final contest between two primordial and vastly powerful spirits, we have to
choose which side we're on. There is no spiritual Switzerland in this conflict; nobody can just opt
out and watch what happens.

If any of us likes the idea of living in a country controlled by the second spirit, just hang around
and wait; that wish can be granted. It's coming on strong, worldwide.

But if that idea is unacceptable, unthinkable, there is only one other alternative. There is only one
other power in the universe that can thwart and disarm the second spirit. It's the living Spirit that
breathed life into our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and birthed the concepts of equality and
freedom in every nation that would receive it. And in every individual who will receive it today.

As Scripture proclaims, undeniably, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2
Corinthians 3:17). I believe it is found nowhere else. We need to pray for that Spirit to defend
and guide us in the coming year, thankful that we still have the opportunity to do it.

Let's make that our New Year's resolution.

The World's Bible

(by Annie Johnson Flint)

Christ has no hands but our hands

to do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet
to lead men in His way;
He has no tongues but our tongues
to tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help
to bring them to His side.

We are the only Bible

the careless world will read;
We are the sinner's gospel,
we are the scoffer's creed;
We are the Lord's last message
 given in deed and word—

What if the line is crooked?

What if the type is blurred?
What if our hands are busy
with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking
where sin's allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking
of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him
unless from Him we learn?

In Earthen Vessels
(by John Greenleaf Whittier)

The dear Lord's best interpreters

are humble human souls;
The gospel of a life like His
is more than books or scrolls.

From scheme and creed the light goes out,

the saintly fact survives;
The blessed Master none can doubt,
revealed in holy lives.

Also you might make a Thanksgiving Box to put notes about blessings that
happen in 2009 (for reading next December 31st). And you would be blessed
rereading and meditating about the truths in Philippians and 1 John. You could
copy the verses that you want to focus on this year.