“Reset” by Pastor Sean Heady

It’s refreshing to read what God is revealing about Himself during these uncertain times. I wanted to share with you something that Sean Heady, our Worship/Missions Pastor, wrote…enjoy.

I think if there was a chance to magically reset the year 2020, we’d be falling over each other in a mad rush to smash that beautiful, big red button! I remember playing video games as a kid. It was so easy to simply hit restart when the game was going terribly. I’d get a fresh, clean start and hope to do better next time. Nobody wants a bad start in a video game or anything else, for that matter. Even more, none of us wants hard times to come at all, especially when they pound in, one after the other, like waves endlessly crashing on the shoreline.

Unfortunately, in life we don’t have that wonderful reset luxury. Sure, there are some things we can start over, like a song we may have missed an entrance on, a quiz we might have an opportunity to retake, or even a second chance at a broken relationship between two extremely gracious people. But as far as life itself and the majority of events it throws at us, we’ve only got one shot.

There are all kinds of examples in Scripture of people who had the chance to start over.  Moses, Jonah, and Peter come to mind, each having the opportunity for a fresh start, but it wasn’t easy. Each one made terrible decisions and/or endured immense trials that would have rendered many of us basket cases. And their failed attempt didn’t vanish in light of the reboot. Rather, their past experience is what shaped a successful new one. Surviving yesterday’s trials made them stronger for today. Learning from their failures produced wisdom for their futures. 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the people in Rome that, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 4:3-4). Hope. Isn’t that exactly what we need right now? It starts will perseverance.

It would be easy for us to waste our current trials. What do I mean by that? As I sit here in my easy-chair – with nowhere to go and not much to do – sulking and longing for this trial to just be over, what am I accomplishing? Will that make me stronger? Will that make me wiser? When this trial is over (and it will be over!) will my fretting and pining produce character or hope? Nope. But what if, instead, I determined to learn from this? What if I sought out what God was trying to do in my life through this?

If God has allowed, or even orchestrated these hard times, what if we did our best to learn from them and use them as an opportunity to be better people, closer communities, and stronger believers than we were before this?

Praying we all respond well to and persevere through this trial – one like most of us have never seen. Will you determine to use this first part of 2020 to catapult you to a whole ‘notha level?

Sean Heady – Worship/Missions Pastor