In 2008, we took our kids to Walt Disney World. We had a blast except for about 15 minutes that felt like 15 days. One afternoon, as we walked through Tomorrow Land, it started raining. We all put on our Disney ponchos, committed to enjoying our magical time despite the rain. As we walked toward Space Mountain, one of our children looked away at a store. He paused for a moment (well, maybe 15 seconds) and then looked back, but when he looked up everyone had the same poncho on and he couldn’t see where we were. We were distracted by the rain and just kept walking, not realizing that we had left one of our kids behind. So, for the next 15 frantic minutes, we looked for him around Tomorrow Land.
After what felt like days, we found him standing at the store where we lost him. Everyone was fine at last. I remember taking his face in my hands and apologizing for not watching better and then saying, “Stay close to us.” He did.
As we have thought and prayed about 2014, the phrase “Stay Close” has captured our attention. We want to be a people who stay close in the coming year. We want to stay close to God, to one another and close to what God is doing.
Stay close to God
What if in 2014 we sought to stay close to God in our relationship with Him? As a gospel people, we are bought with a price and we belong to God. We’ve created resources to help with this like the Mark reading guide and Night Class. We want to be a people who walk with Jesus—who stay close to Him. Let’s make that a priority in our lives, not just in 2014, but every year.
Stay close to one another
We want to stay close to God and we want to stay close to one another. We want to fight the pull toward individualistic living and learn to live in gospel-formed relationships that encourage and support us. We want to pursue one another so that Jesus is displayed and disciples are made. As we think about our lives in 2014, let’s seek to stay close to one another.
Stay close to what God is doing
As we look toward 2014, I’m really confident that God is about to do more than we could ever ask or imagine. We’ve seen our second congregation planted at Northlake. We are seeing lives transformed every week in both congregations. We know and believe that God is doing something unique and glorious in our lives. Let’s not miss out on that. As we consider our lives for 2014, let’s stay close to what God’s doing.
And the glorious good news of this is that there will never be a time when God loses sight of us. Not in Tomorrow Land or any other land. He is with us always unto the end of the age. So, let’s stay close to Him, to one another and to what He is doing in the world.
