“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”  – Isaiah 43:18-19
 
It’s funny how reading this passage from Isaiah took me back to the days that I taught my kids how to drive a car.
 
I’m not exactly sure how that responsibility fell on me and not my wife. Actually, that’s not 100% true. My wife took one five-minute trip around the block with our son, Nicholas, in his very first driving lesson, came back inside the house, threw the car keys at me and said, “You’re teaching him.” To this day I have no clue what happened within those five minutes. Probably best.

That said, I accepted the challenge and took the time to teach both of my kids the basics: always buckle up, keep hands at ”ten and two” on the wheel at all times, turn the radio off the first six months and drive with no distractions, signal when changing lanes, and always check your blind side.

Of course, there was also the issue with the rearview mirror. We don’t talk much about that rearview mirror, do we? It’s important. No doubt about it. However, there is a much larger window that we look out of that is the primary motivator for our driving. Why? Because that windshield shows us how we’re getting to where we’re going. The rearview mirror is important, as well. It’s good for perspective as to what’s behind, but to drive, we must always remember, the windshield shows us the way. 

In Isaiah 43, the Lord is teaching His people an important lesson, as they are focused solely on the rear view, missing something new that is right in front of them. Relevant for God’s people then and, in so many ways, it’s relevant for His people today.

This weekend is a pretty historic weekend in the life of our church. We’re in a period of denominational discernment and this weekend, I will be speaking into that in all services across both our Woodlands and Woodforest campuses. I’ll talk about where we are as a church and, more importantly, where I believe the Lord is calling us to move forward in faith. I hope you can make plans to attend worship this weekend.

I continue to say that it’s an honor to serve as the Senior Pastor of this church, and I have never been more excited about the future and where the Spirit is leading us for such a time as this.