January 15
Restoration!
So here I am in 2010. It is a time of fresh new starts for many. The first week of the year it was nearly impossible to find a parking place at the gym and then all the “newbie resolutioners” were hogging up all the cardio bikes equipped with televisions! It forced me to make a resolution not to hit anyone at the gym. Then I immediately had to make another resolution not to yank anyone off my favorite bike! It would appear that I am still the same guy I was last year… or am I?
All kidding aside, I find the arrival of the New Year filled with great anticipation and excitement. I hear a resounding theme in conversations with people everywhere. “This is the year.” I mean that could come off as just a quaint little saying people use every year but there is something within their spirit that is excited. I believe that that excitement is in relation to, not so much what we are going to do in life, but what God will do!
The Year of Restoration
I am not really sure I understand the all the ramifications of this, but everyone I know is calling 2010 The Year of Restoration; the year that God will bring restoration to people.
Restoration is the act of restoring, reviving or reestablishing. This is the business that God has been in since the beginning. However, if this is the year set aside for the very idea of restoration then we should be going to God and seeing what our role in this is going to be.
What this means for NinetyNine4One is that we will posture ourselves to be a resource of restoration. Another way to describe restoration is, “The restitution of something taken away or lost.”
The mission is to go and get back the lost. Not so much “what” was taken away but “who” has been taken away. The world is full of people who are lost and desperately need be restored to a place of hope, strength, and healing.
NinetyNine4One has one solid message: restoration. From the blog to the newsletter, website and message boards to everyone I talk to, the message will be restoration.
What about you? What will your message be to the people you encounter in 2010? I hope it’s a theme of the grace of God and his ultimate desire for the restoration of all people.
You know, He trusts us and believes in us so much that He gave us the privilege of taking His message of restoration to the masses. So join me in this endeavor and look for a NinetyNine4One moment in every place you go. Look for an opportunity to present a piece of your story of restoration. You may be surprised what can happen.
“The Lord your God will RESTORE you from captivity and have compassion on you.” Deuteronomy 30:3