2010 will go down as the most difficult year of my 45. However, where it has been the most difficult, it has also been a blessed year and much good has happened. If I did not have faith in God, who I believe is the Creator of the world, I would have given up already. If there was not the promise of Eternal Life in Heaven, what would be the use of it all.
I am not alone, I have been in fellowship with so many this year who have gone through hurt and pain and they are struggling with why. 2010 was a year that I will never forget. On the day that we baptized a record number of people in the Holston Conference, my brother died in an automobile accident. May 23rd is a bitter-sweet day in my memory forever.
On the weekend we opened the new worship center, we had another tragedy in our family that I am still unable to talk openly about. December 2010 will be a bitter-sweet memory forever.
I have not lost hope, it is what keeps me going. The Bible tells me of a time that is coming for those who Love God that will be Heaven. When we talk about Heaven we imagine so many things. When I say imagine I really mean that we have lots of images in our minds of what Heaven is going to be like. Some are biblical and some have no biblical basis as all. With that in mind, we are going to be studying about Heaven this through the ministries of Out of the Box Worship Center, 1st United Methodist Church, and Out of the Box Youth. There will be Life Groups, Youth Group, and SNL messages where we will study together and discover just what the Bible has to say about Heaven.
I hope that you will join us and that your Hope will be renewed. I hope that you will bring your friends and family that are hurting and asking questions like this, “Why would God allow this world to go on when it is so bad, there is so much pain and hurt?”
We are going to discover together “WHY”
Ronnie
