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(I corrected several path problems on August 29, August 30, and September 1, including these selections: Which  Version?, Christmas, Images, Body of Christ Discovered, Hymn Midis, KJV Bible, and Spiritual Warfare.  Sorry for any problems; please let know if you find others. - Gary)

Field Goals

Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

There are a lot of good Christians in the state of Kentucky. I know many of them. The most popular religion there, though, is not Christianity, unfortunately, but UK basketball. Even some of my most levelheaded and sensible friends there go more than a little crazy during the big games, and some that aren't so big. One of the hardest things I had to live down, or live with, in Kentucky was that I attended school at the University of North Carolina, whose basketball team rates somewhere below Attila the Hun and Saddam Hussein in the estimation of loyal Cat fans.

The whole idea of basketball, of course, is to score more points in the basketball goal than the other team does. The goal, so to speak, is very clear. For many of us, our goals in life aren't nearly so visible and attainable. Many of us have no goals in life at all, and just kind of drift along from year to year wherever the tide takes us. Others reach their goal early, and life after that has no meaning.

Our Lord Jesus had no doubt about what his goal was in his earthly ministry. Everything he did pointed toward the cross, where he would pay the price to reconcile us to the Father. Luke tells us that, when Paul finished his last recorded missionary journey, he set his face steadfastly toward Jerusalem (Acts 20:22). In spite of the warnings that he faced imprisonment, he went, because that's what God had led him to do. The people of Israel finally entered the Promised Land because two of their leaders, Moses and Joshua, persisted in working toward the goal, however painful the progress was.

There are varieties of goals. Some are immediate, while others are years away, even a whole lifetime. Most are somewhere in between. One of the worst problems I've had this past month is losing sight of the goals the Lord has given me, in part because I had none close at hand. Once I got here to West Virginia, and started work, I reached the only concrete goals I had set for myself. Without goals, without something to look forward to, there is no hope. Hope focuses on what God has promised in our lives, the purpose and task he has set before us. If we have nothing to hope for, the alternative is depression and despair. Though I have long known that is my head, I lost sight of it for a while.

The goals we set don't have to be spectacular. Mine were as simple as finding a new church home (Victory Baptist Church, unofficially), resuming contact with the Gideon ministry here, and resuming this newsletter. As part of this, I resolved, by God's grace, to resume the daily discipline of Bible study and prayer that had fallen by the wayside recently. Resolutions, you see, aren't confined to the beginning of the year.

Your "close-up" goals may be quite different. You may decide to set an earlier time to go to bed to allow for more sleep, or to eat a healthier diet, or to cut back on credit card purchases. Whatever goals you set should be undergirded with prayer. There's no "I" in goal if it's set properly, but it should begin and end with Christ. Small goals should point toward larger ones; we should decide to eat healthy food, exercise, and get plenty of rest not just to live long and prosper, but to be more fit for the purposes God designed us for. We should work toward getting out of debt not just so we can restore our credit rating, but so we can devote the resources God has blessed us with to his service.

I need to get back into the fellowship of believers not just to improve my well being and restore my peace of mind. God has called me here for a reason, and whatever I do must be done as a part of the body of Christ. Whatever I might be able to do alone is not nearly enough. God has brought me here for just such a time as this. However discouraged and depressed I may have been with the loss of fellowship of so many friends and brethren, that's behind me. As long as I can keep my eyes on the goal, and not look back at what once was, God can use me.

Do you have goals for your life? Have you attained them already? If you don't have anything to look forward to, however near or far away it may be, you'll always be looking back. If you're not headed toward anything, you'll slide back. Take some time, however much it takes, and set some things you can accomplish right away, some that are reasonable for this year, and some for away down the road. God always needs more laborers in the fields!

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