About 2 months ago I recognised that I was becoming increasingly stressed and frustrated without any apparent cause. I was also finding myself pretty stagnant and dry despite trying hard to exercise the disciplines that we were talking about at the time. I felt like running away and living like a bum on a beach somewhere. I lay awake one night bemoaning my case to God. As I was ranting I cried out to God (quietly of course – I didn’t want to wake Rebecca and Abigail up): “I USED TO FEEL LIKE MY LIFE WAS SO FULL OF PROMISE AND OPPORTUNITY!” In that moment God arrested my heart and since then God has been speaking to me about Promise & Opportunity and gradually I’ve been coming back to life (although I must say that I’m still continually wrestling with my own mind).
 
We have Faith and Hope in God’s promise, God’s promise gives us life (Ps 119:154) & we have eternal salvation according to His promise (1John 2:25)… God has given us His guarantee that we are on the winning team! Because of Jesus we have God’s divine assurance of good - everything in the entire universe is conspiring in our favour! It’s almost like watching a rerun of the ’95 Rugby World Cup final. You know that your team is going to win but you’re still on the edge of your seat until Joel Stransky puts away the winning drop goal in extra time and in that moment all the joy and elation feels as real as it did 13 years ago! Romans 8 tells us that for those who love God all things work together for good and that if God is for us then who can be against us? Now that’s promise! So if promise is an assurance of good and opportunity is a favourable set of circumstances to do something then you can’t ask for a better opportunity than that!
 
We serve a God of promise; therefore 2009 will be a year of opportunity!
 
2008 is coming to an end and, as the New Year draws closer, the excitement and expectation grows for the blank page of 2009. 2008 has been described as a year of new beginnings. It’s been a creative year, a year of weddings and a year of LOVE and a year of fathering. God has been walking us up this pleasant hillside by His Grace and now he wants to take us further into the hill country of Opportunity. The challenge is that somewhere between here and there we face a chasm that can only be crossed by a leap of faith.  To live in God’s promise is to know that we can leap the chasm because God is conspiring in our favour!
 
The biggest risk we can make is to not risk at all!
 
Crossing the chasm implies making adjustments, leaving behind things that weigh us down, girding our loins and taking the risk. Staying on this side of the chasm is not an option. It would be a bit like the Israelite army - standing staring at Goliath as he taunts them. They totally forgot the promise that God made to them as a nation when they first took the Promised Land (Deut 31). It was David who took courage, who stood on God’s promise, who trusted God more than cumbersome armor – and he defeated the giant! The terrain on the other side may be new and unfamiliar but it’s a place for strong and courageous people who can adapt quickly and respond with fleetness of foot. It’s a place of favorable circumstances to do what God has called us to. It’s a place for the people of Urban Life Church!