We are less than a week into the New Year.  Have you already made and broken any resolutions?  Haha!  I start my diet over again every day.  How about you?

Resolutions are challenging because they pretty much require a change of behavior, thinking, or habit.  Change.  <shudder>   Some people just can’t handle any change.  Take, for instance, my dear daughter Amanda.

For those of you who aren’t aware, we are currently in the midst of a Michigan snowstorm.  Yesterday, the grocery store was full of frantic people who were loading up on groceries and toilet paper so they could go home and hibernate while the snowstorm dropped six to ten inches today.  Ted and I walked into the grocery store yesterday to get our weekly groceries, and then walked out empty handed.  We weren’t going to be part of that chaos.  Today, we went back to do our shopping and the crowds had died down and the shelves had been restocked.  However, there were many items that were sold out after yesterday’s frenzy.  Part of my shopping list was Amanda’s list of groceries of which I shop for each week for her.  Four of her items were not available and I had to substitute other brands.  <horrors!>  Substitutions I made included a different flavor of Capri Sun that she drinks every day, a different brand of potato chips from her usual preferred, and a different brand of bread from what I got her last time.  Now most of you might think, “So what?”  Oh, no no no.  Not Amanda.  When we got home from shopping, I immediately explained to Amanda the shortages at the store and prepared her for the changes in her food supply that she will have to adjust to this week.  I could read distress on her face as her whole body tensed up a bit and she kept sighing heavily.

The sermon at church touched on this subject somewhat today.  Pastor Blythe preached about how the Christian life is an adventure.  Even Jesus, as a young boy, took risks by following His Father’s will.  For three days Jesus’ parents lost track of their son because he had gone back to Jerusalem, where they had departed from, to teach in the temple.  Jesus took a risk, changed it up, and did something different.

I don’t know about you and if you have any resolutions to keep.  But why not try to step out a little more boldly in your faith this year?  Make a change!  Try a new Bible study class.  Stand up for your Christian beliefs.  Talk to your neighbor about Jesus.  Help with a Sunday school class.

We have a mission and a ministry to share the Good News!

And Amanda:  Splurge and take a new adventure by drinking a new flavor of Capri Sun!  Try a different kind of potato chip!  Go all out and eat some chip dip even!

Be bold – change it up – make it a new year of risks and challenges!

And for those of you who were in church and saw it this morning – here’s the video that Pastor included that had us all laughing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dTyWQ6gHtQ

You can even take the lid off your coffee 😀

Just Laurel