Pastor Jason Foreman
Family Worship
As you are looking ahead to all that this new year may hold for you, I’d like to issue a simple challenge. Read an old Christian book this year . I suppose I should challenge you to read two old Christian books this year. Certainly, your soul would benefit from regular encounters with God’s Word – a two- to four-thousand-year-old book. But in addition to a regular diet of Scripture, read an old Christian book this year .
When somebody sins against you and leaves a deep wound, do you find it hard to forgive? When a deadline at work is weighing on you or you are experiencing a life-altering event, do you find it difficult to be truly present with those around you? If you are anything like me, you would answer yes to these questions and a host of other similar questions.
Every couple of years I feel this tug. Typically, it’s right around this time of year. As winter stubbornly holds on while spring bides its time. I get this urge to re-enter a world I was introduced to as a child. A world full of foreign concepts such as hobbits, elves, and rings of power. I’m speaking, of course, about the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein (LOTR). However, this is more than mere entertainment driving the desire to journey again through Middle Earth. I sense, instead, a deep longing in my soul to experience a story with themes like good versus evil. Light versus dark. What was versus what is. A story with valiant sacrifice. Don’t we all sense that longing?
