Happy New Year!!!

Well let me start off by saying, welcome to 2009!

Now with the arrival of the new year everyone will undoubtedly be making those usual New Year's Resolutions. You know the personal improvements, that I'm talking about, "I'm going to exercise daily", "I'm going to eat better", "I'm going to spend more time with my family", the list goes on and on. We even have them for our church and church departments. Things like, "We're going to do more", "We're going to be more things for more people", or "We're going to add this or take away that to make this or that better". And while it is great to want to improve yourself and be a better person going forward, giving credit to and thanking those who have helped to shape that future is of vital importance.

Everyone has had someone who has been instrumental in developing their Christian walk or guiding them down the correct path. You know, that one person without whom your life would be sooo different. Everyone out there has had an experience where things could have, and probably should have, turned out much worse than they did. Everyone has been in situations or circumstances that they never intended to be in and don't know how they got there. Maybe you're there right now!?! What better way to honor those people who helped you get where you are or to pay tribute to the God who saw fit to help you through the rough times and who wants to be all that you can ever need wherever you find yourself, than to pass them along.

It has been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and therefore to give to someone else what has been graciously given to you, would reason to be the most telling sign of the appreciation that you feel for what you have been blessed with. To know where you are going you must first know where you've been and acknowledging the people who helped us to get to this place is a great way to start...