LOOKING FORWARD by Robert Soto

LOOKING FORWARD by Robert Soto

January 7, 2010

2 Peter 3:13 "But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."

It is always sad when I have to take my Christmas lights down. They have been up for about six to eight weeks and now it is time to take them down. I look forward to that day when I get the go-ahead to put them up and then I think of every excuse I can to keep them up for one more day. Most of my neighbors took their lights down by New Year's Day. I keep mine up until January 6 because of the tradition that this is the day when the three kings came to Jesus. But the celebration is now over and all the work to put them up will now be a memory in my mind, along with the few pictures that I took to prove to others that I really do put up over fourteen thousand lights. So now I will go backwards. I started from the roof and worked my way down to the yard and now I will start with the yard and work my way up to the roof. It is a ritual that I follow every year and soon will do it again.

In many ways, this is what life is all about. We look at the things we accomplished knowing that we can either gloat on past victories or look into the future for better and greater things. Our Apache people in times past did not have time to look back. They were too busy trying to find a way to stay alive. Most of the time they did not even have time to properly dispose of the remains of their fellow tribal members who did not complete the journey. They had one thing in mind - to press on to whatever the future brought and look to God the Creator to help them get where they were supposed to go. It was Peter who wrote, "But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." In view of the fact that one day all will be gone and all will become new, we do not look back, but look forward to the new Heavens and Earth that God the Creator has for us. As I take the lights down, I look not on the past, but forward to ten months from now, planning for a bigger and better display.

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor of:

McAllen Grace Brethren Church
The Native American New Life Center
Chief of Chiefs Christian Church