Today is the Day

Happy Birthday Lord of Life! The big Two Zero! 20 years ago this exact day Lord of Life held its first worship.

So much has changed since then - not only at Lord of Life, but in the world as well. What was the world like in 1989? Well, Ronald Reagan was president on January 15 and a few short days later George Bush, Sr. would succeed him. It was the year of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It was the year of the Tienanmen Square protests. San Franscisco was rocked by a major earthquake. Pete Rose was banned from baseball. The Berlin Wall was torn down. I was still in High School. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls had yet to win a championship and the Chicago Cubs were still practicing futility.

We didn't know then what Lord of Life would look like 20 years later, but through it all, God was there. There have been good times. There have been not so good of times. There have been times of abundance. There have been times of famine. There have been joys and there have been sorrows.

People have come. People have gone. People have comeback and still others have passed on to glory. Some have fallen away and we pray them to come back to Jesus. Others have come to Jesus for the very first time. As the writer of Ecclesiastes shares there is a time for every activity under the sun.

An anniversary is a time to look back, but even more so it is a time to look forward. The theme for this anniversary is forever forward. It is based upon Hebrews 12:1-3 where we are told to fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. We can look forward. We can look backwards, but always we will look to Jesus.

Our hope, our provision, our glory, our forgiveness, our memories, our stories, our mission, our lives all belong to Jesus. So to Him be all the glory for great things he has done.

Please join me in praying for the celebration this weekend. I am praying that it will be a joyful time and a time to unite us new and old in Jesus Christ. I pray it will be a weekend that Jesus will be lifted high and a weekend to move us forward in mission.

We have almost 350 people RSVP'ed for the dinner and a great worship planned. Hope to see you there.