WHAT IS YOUR BEGINNING? 1/1/09

This morning is the first day of a new year. 2009! I remember when the world was facing 2000 and the Y2K crisis! The computers were going to crash because they wouldn't know if it was 1900 or 2000. However, the computers carried on into the millenium without a hitch. A lot has happened in these past years! Our shores have been attacked; we are engaged in wars; we are in an economic slump, world wide and some would say that the sky is falling. But I choose to look at the bright side and say; "God is in control"! Hallelujah!

Everything has a past! Good or bad, there is a past! Lots of times we refer to history to help us to remember the past. For instance lets take a look at the 7/11 Store. Many of you may already know these things but I find some trivia interesting. The 7/11 Store began sometime during the depression which was in the 30s and it’s beginning was as an "ICE HOUSE". This means they only sold blocks of ice to be used in "ice boxes" which were used to keep food cold. We now have refrigerators and only a few ice boxes are still being used. The name of 7/11 was to advertise the hours of the store. They were open from 7:00 am until 11:00 pm. Hence, 7/11! Through the years they thought of changing it to 24/7 but decided it was best to just leave it alone. When folks would come for their ice, they would ask why they didn’t also sell, milk.....Soooo, they sold ice and milk. Then they were asked about eggs....Sooooo, they sold ice, milk and eggs. Bread was the next selection. Before you knew it, they started adding many items that were regularly requested and today they stock well over 4000 different items to satisfy their customers. In 1957 they began to serve "slurpies" and they became an instant success. That is a little bit of the trivial past of how the 7/11 store began. What about you? What past do you have? Does your past keep you from moving on.......or does it hold you back?

My past began in a Ice House! Although I hadn’t even made it on the scene yet. My Mom and Dad ran a Ice House! However, their success was not in the Ice House but in raising a family of fourteen children. I guess success depends upon your perspective. My beginning was very humble. With so many children, you would think the competition for attention would have been fierce. Perhaps it was but I don’t remember. I never felt unloved but sometimes I felt the need to be heard, so I talked a lot. Sometimes I felt I wouldn’t get enough to eat so I ate a lot. Sometimes I wanted more but learned to be satisfied. To this day I love hand me downs or second hand clothes. Used furniture is the first must see, and new is the last option.

After we held Jean’s 80th birthday celebration, she said; " I think this day will last me forever"! Sometimes as we get older these sort of celebrations cause us to look at how far we have come. Yet, when we were 6 or 7 we could hardly wait to put our young past behind us and get on with getting older. Everything has a past! Good or bad, there is a past!

No matter who we become, who we were somehow keeps rearing it’s head. A good past we are willing to keep with us forever but a bad past we want to forget. Have you ever wondered "How do we forget the past?" One of the reasons we can’t totally forget is because we are still hanging onto the guilt of past failures. It could be a refusal to go to a person we have hurt and seek forgiveness. It could be a secret thing that we are afraid to reveal even to ourselves and lastly, unresolved anger. Some are huge problems that hold us back.

In Philippians 3:7-17 Paul tells us he wanted to forget his past and he wanted to press forward. Paul had a great deal to forget; He persecuted the Christians! He had them imprisoned and even put to death. How does that compare to what you must leave behind? What was Paul pressing towards? He called it, "the prize of the upward calling". Eternal life! Paul says that he was not perfect! He was not complete or yet finished here on earth! Paul was saying he had no righteousness of his own but that only found in Christ through faith. Paul knew that as a man he still had areas that needed God’s workmanship. It was necessary for Paul to forget what was behind so that he could press forward to what was ahead. God has promised to forgive and forget! With Christ, we are made new to begin again! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 5/9/08