info DAY 6 // VISION FROM THE PAST
GREG STANDINGER – GLEN ARBOR COMMUNITY CHURCH IN WEST CHICAGO, IL
In 1972, Hanna-Barbera produced a TV show for NBC called “Sealab 2020” which survived only one season. As you can guess, it was a cartoon show about complete families who were deep sea “Oceanauts” that lived in an underwater structure and studied the ocean and had great adventures.
As a boy of nine years old I was fascinated by all sorts of science fiction including the pictures and stories of what the future would look like. I specifically wondered if, in the future year of 2020, I would live in such a place. Deep underwater or in outer space or some other fascinating world in that far off year. I calculated I would be in my mid-fifties by then and would likely be too old to really enjoy it or have any fun being in the future. I was right.
As I look at the closely of 2019 it marks a milestone for me. The future is here and I am not doing any of the cool things that young boys dream about. It is something so much better. I am a soldier on a planet created by a living God who has put me on an adventure that does not serve me, but serves others by introducing them to that Creator and Savior Jesus Christ. It is an adventurous race against time and an epic battle for souls on the frontline of eternity.
How did I get here? As I look in the past years I see specific turning points, hard choices, difficult trials, unexpected miracles, undaunted love, and gentle challenges that moved me to this place. I can see them for what they are now: The hand of the living God moving in my life. Only by looking at the former things He has done over time can I see how He really is God over all time, in all places, and with all my heart.
“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,”
Isaiah 46:9 (NASB)
Looking at the past year of 2019, and even the years before that, help me line up my vision and course for the future with the direction God has established for me. I have stopped trying to set my own course and my own vision by my guess of a future that is not mine. I now make His vision, my vision by seeing what He has been doing with me in the past. That is how I can best go where He wants me.
What did God do with me this year?
Where has He been pointing me?
“Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.”
Deuteronomy 32:7 (NASB)
When I was young I had little past experience to draw from and see Him at work in my life. I had to rely on people who were older than me to speak into my life objectively. I have noticed one thing that older people have shown me: relax and let go. Now that I am older I see what they were talking about.
I used to worry so much about the future and what it holds. He holds it. I used to worry about the present, He owns it. I used to worry about the past and what I missed, did wrong, could have done better. He was there too. He is a God of all my times
What am I worried about in my past?
Who can I talk to that can help me look at it objectively?
