Growing up in the 1950s, much of our time in the evenings was spent playing board games. One of my favorites was Monopoly. I would always try to get Park Place and put some buildings on it. The move I hated was; “Do not pass start, Go directly to jail.”

I have learned that life is not always what we might want it to be. Sometimes we land in the wrong place and our journey is disrupted. I can envision life like running a race. If we happen to fall down or end up in the wrong place, unlike the game of Monopoly, we do not have to start over. We must know that we can get up where we fell down and continue our journey. We might have a scrapped knee or elbow, but those things will heal. We can just brush ourselves off and continue toward the finish line.

When our journey of life is completed we need to be able to say as Paul did to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7; “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Paul started out persecuting the church but after getting knocked off of his horse and temporarily losing his eyesight, he got back up and became the man God used to write over 1/3 of the new testament. When we get back up and keep going we can do even greater things than we have ever done. There will always be those that will bring up your past to discourage you from your bright future, but do not let them hinder you.

After the people of Israel had fallen and were taken into captivity God said in Jeremiah 29:11; “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Continue on! The best is yet to come.

Come and join us at the Gathering Place every Wednesday evening at 7 and Sunday morning at 9:30 and 10:30. We also have youth group and recovery classes Sunday evenings at 6.