My wife and I don’t do much to celebrate New Year’s Eve. This year wasn’t any different, except that I felt melancholy. About mid-day on Dec. 31, 2009, I was told that a friend had passed away.

Many years ago, Ed Natt had served as my personal and corporate attorney. My wife and I also met weekly with Ed and his wife, along with several other couples, in a small  group from our church. Needless to say, we became good friends. Along with many others, I will miss him.

This morning when my wife finished her devotions, she brought one of her readings to me so I could read it. (I am still amazed by the ways God uses her to help me see Him in our daily lives.) After you read Ed’s obituary, take a look at these scripture passages from Daily Light for January 1…

I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.

God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.
- Daily Light, New Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishers
(I Thess. 2:12, Phil. 3:13-14, I Cor. 9:24-25, Heb. 12:1-2, Phil. 1:6)

How about it?
Let’s believe God in 2010. With His help, let’s strip off what slows us down and make this year part of our legacy.