GBC Community Update: A different way of looking at rest

Good morning!  If you’re on the prayer chain then you would have received the news yesterday that my son Alec and his wife Jazz had their third child, a boy named Augustine Larry Andrew. I’m excited to be a grandfather again. It really is such a joy and I’m thankful. What’s causing you joy these days?
 
 
New Moms In Prayer Group Meeting at GBC
Starting on Monday, January 15th from 10 – 11 am women will be gathering together weekly in the Adult Ministry Room to pray for children, teachers and schools.  Please use the side door entrance.  Moms in Prayer International is a global ministry that impacts children and schools worldwide for Christ by gathering mothers to pray.  For further information about the Moms in Prayer group please contact Jennifer Marett at (519) 836-5484.
 
 
Thought for the day: A different way of looking at rest
I’ve been looking at the idea of finding resolve in our lives the last couple of updates.  This one is not always evident in something that seems to be action oriented:
 Rest
New Year’s should be a time to rest. First, we rest in the reality of our identity in Jesus. We may have failed to meet our heady goals in 2023 for a variety of reasons but Jesus still loves us, despite our failures, unchecked boxes, and disappointment at the scale. The gospel tells us that he loves us in the midst of these.
It’s not the voice of your Savior, but the whisper of the enemy that says you have less worth because you blew your resolutions. A “more successful 2024” will not make Jesus love you any more. He’s the one, after all, who calls broken sinners and empowers them for his mission. Failed apostles, former persecutors, recovering Pharisees—his church is full of them. 
Second, we should plan to physically rest. We don’t often do this on New Year’s. We plan to work and hustle (I know I do!). But do we schedule time to reflect and acknowledge our need for sleep and leisure? Rest isn’t a sign of laziness or weakness; it’s a sign of spiritual strength and confidence that when we close our eyes, our lives are in the grip of a sovereign God. To sleep is to say that we’re not God and that the world can go on without us. This is something I’m trying a lot harder to get better at!
So, as we make our plans, let’s remember that even in our failures, we serve the one who remembers our frame and knows we are dust as is says in Psalm 103. We make plans, but we hold them lightly. We entrust our future, not to our Apple Watch or Google Calendar or a reading list, but to the King who holds the world in his hands.
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris