2 minute read
Rev. Craig Goodrich
I have a framed saying in my office at the church, given to me by a good friend. It says simply “What seems like the end is often the beginning.” Certainly, this is true as we come to the end of another year. 2022 is ending but 2023 is just beginning. It is a time to look back and a time to look ahead.
As I look back over the past year, I am most grateful for the continued privilege of serving as your Senior Pastor and for the joy of being alongside you in this journey of faith and working with your faithful elders, compassionate and caring Deacons and Stephen ministers and your dedicated staff. I resonate with sentiments of the apostle Paul when he wrote to the Philippians “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you...” (Philippians 1:3). I am thankful. As I look ahead, there is much about which to be hopeful and excited. And you can read about it all in this issue of the Outreach. Every morning I read several devotional books. One of my longstanding companions is the classic My Utmost for His Highestby Oswald Chambers. I love his entry for December 31, and I offer it in part to you as we both end and begin. reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present… As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.” And so, we begin again. A blessed New Year to all.
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Faithfully and Gratefully,
FROM THE PULPIT
“At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is a God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God
January 15 Rev. Craig Goodrich January 22 Rev. Rex Childs January 29 Rev. Craig Goodrich
