Cha...cha...CHANGES

Twenty-O-Eight was definitely a year of change and reflection around the Kyzer Compound. As you have read in previous posts our oldest son and family moved into town while my nephew, his wife and children moved into the house in our pasture, Jake became a man after joining the Army, and I "retired" and started blogging.

The talking heads of the media promise that 2009 will also be a year of change. Change for America... starting with Obama's inauguration... I believe it will take even more strentgh of faith as we walk through the next twelve months. Change is inevitable... we have experienced it our entire life both personally and collectively as a country... some for the better... some for the worse.

John F. Kennedy once stated "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." He could not have known when he spoke these words of the calamity awaiting one fateful sunny afternoon in Dallas. An event that would forever change the face of his family... change the face of America. Nor do we know the changes this new year holds for us...whether it be tragedy or triumph.

It is comforting to know the ONE who is in control of a world that seems to sometimes spin out of control because of change. The ONE WHO NEVER CHANGES... He who is faithful and just... who will never leave nor forsake us...the one who prayed for us.

John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

John 17:25-26 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Change surely awaits us all within the confines of the next 365 days. As parents, as a couple...Jimmy and I know one change we will face as Jake is deployed. Will it be the biggest challenge...the highest hurdle? Are we prepared to boldly face the fear a parent goes through as their child is hurled into the face of danger? Probably not... but we know that to walk by faith and not by sight is something we can not do on our own...we know that to walk by faith means giving all we are, all we have within us over to God. For truly it is then and only then that one does not walk by sight.

I've not had a list of New Year resolutions since my early 20's because that is just what it became...a list. In my early thirties I started a goal list at the beginning of each new year. Some goals were accomplished and if I knew where the first one was I'd bet there are some still unmet goals listed upon that yellowed piece of paper. However, this year...this year is different.

It is with much resolve and determination that I hold fast to the hand of my Savior...that I seek Him always...searching for and walking in His will. It is with the strength of His Spirit that I am one with Him as He is one with the Father.... that all who see me will know that He loves them as the Father loved Him. That He is the refuge...the fortress...the deliver...the salvation that the world seeks, though they do not know him.

God bless you in 2009 and God bless America.