When we started 2020, we had no idea how the year would unfold and forever change us; as a nation, as a Christian as an individual.

Change is not always bad; as individuals we choose if the change to us is for the better or for the worse.

Our nation will be forever changed; we have experienced a difficult and divisive election. Covid-19 has changed us. We have close to 400,000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands who have been affected by these deaths. We have experienced fear and anxiety and painful distancing from our loved ones.

We have had our eyes and hearts opened to our prejudices and to injustice. We have seen how minorities are mistreated and how they often live in fear and anger at the injustices they encounter in their daily lives. No one can deny it or ignore it any longer.

There are so many difficult changes that we have faced as a nation and as individuals. I am only responsible for my own response in all of this change.

Some of the changes that I have committed to and hope to make in my own life:

1. Fear can cripple, I must choose to trust God in all situations.
2. I am guilty of some prejudices in my own heart; I will work on seeing all people as God sees them. They are lost or they are found; this alone should be the way I view people. I must be an agent committed to bringing justice and equality for all people.
3. People are hurting; they need to hear me speak of the peace, healing and hope found only in Jesus.
4. God has not called me to argue, debate, condemn or contribute to the negative and explosive environment. My purpose is to love people and help them find their way to God.
5. I am not immune to all the pain, fear, death and violence around me. I can and have been touched by it all. I submit to God’s will for my life. The bad does not overcome me, but it does affect me.
6. Life is uncertain; God is unchanging and faithful.

I hope i am learning to be more patient, more full of faith, more compassionate, less negative and more positive. Mostly, I hope I am becoming more like Christ.