2012... Different.

Happy New Year! We are almost two weeks in 2012 and the resolutions have begun. I've never been one to make a "resolution", if you will. That's just not me. However, I have this year!  Well, they're not real resolutions, but funny ones.  After having a conversation with Amanda the other day, I resolved to watch more movies in 2012.  I used to watch movies all the time, but over the last year or two I have been so busy with school and work that I haven’t hardly watched any.  I am the kind of person whose brain runs 24/7, and it gets real tiring after a while.  Movies are my way of escaping from reality and chilling for a moment.  That’s just what I need in 2012.  Also, I have made a resolution to know what day of the week it is!  For some reason since I moved to Nashville 4 months ago, I cannot keep up with what day of the week it is.  I know what the date is, but I just can’t keep track of the day.  It’s like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone or I’ve been sucked into a black hole!  Just keepin' it real! 

Anyway, I guess you can say this New Year's I have something else... not a resolution, but a commitment.  Let’s look at Acts 9, shall we? Saul was a horrible human being. I’m pretty sure that he did almost anything we could imagine. He persecuted the believers and threatened others. He lived years of horribleness. (Not really sure that’s a word, but work with me!) He was so far gone that I’m pretty sure others thought there was no hope for him. God had a different plan. God met with Saul in the middle of a road. For three days Saul pretty much did nothing. He couldn’t eat or drink, he was almost unfunctionable. (Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s not a word either!) I can only imagine what he did for those three days. If I had to guess, I would guess that he spent those three days reflecting on the years he spent persecuting people and reflecting on the encounter he just had with the God of the universe.

At the end of the three days Ananias went to him as the Lord instructed, laid his hands upon him, and Saul regained his vision. He immediately got up, got some food, was baptized, spent sometime with the disciples, and started proclaiming Jesus to everyone. Saul was soon to become Paul. Saul was different.  In my world, like I said, I would imagine that Saul spent his three days of blindness reflecting on his life and the years he had wasted. He had an encounter with God, and he was changed. I could imagine that in those three days he thought of the way he was going to be different. He was a new person.

What does this have to do with you? This new year is a new start, if you will. My challenge is that you spend time reflecting on last year and looking forward to this new year. Saul spent time reflecting and thinking on what he needed to do differently, it’s your turn to do it. Pray and ask God to meet with you today on your “Damascus Road” and show you what you need to do or ways you need to be different this new year. Is he calling you to be different? Is He calling you to do something different? Dare to spend 2012 being different. Different for God… It will change your life.  I promise.