2010 In Our Rearview Mirror

I love the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It is a time for introspection and a time of reckoning. For many years I have set both personal and professional goals for the upcoming year during this week. It is a time to evaluate how I did on those goals throughout the years and prayerfully set new ones for the upcoming one. Those goals are before me all year long as I seek to prioritize my time and energies.

In many ways 2010 was a good year. In other ways it brought sorrows I am still working through. There is no doubt that 2010 took busyness to a whole other level for the Edwards household. With a growing church, the rebirth of No Compromise Ministries, chasing our kids around playing sports, writing,, preaching, and keeping up with the affairs of everyday life we had little spare time. We did manage a three-day get away to Ruidoso, NM in July. We enjoyed stress free days of no schedules, leisure time, and enjoying tourist destinations. We had no idea what would come just around the corner.

We ministered in the midst of a tragedy in the loss of one of young ladies just a few days after our time in New Mexico. To this day her death is still a shock and grieves my heart for her family. She was a devoted wife and mother of two girls. She was only 38. Twelve families were together enjoying a family camp. The shock and grief that were experienced and is still being felt today dampen much of 2010 for me. I still do not know why God took her. I could not believe it when the doctors came out with the news that she did not make it. I know her family grieves in ways the rest of us could never imagine, especially this time of year.

We planned a revival that ended lasting close to the whole month of August only weeks after young lady was taken. It is hard to believe we really met for church twenty-three straight nights without a break. Some of those services lasted two and a half hours. God moved but as suddenly as it began it ended. We were all tired and we thought the war ended only to find out spiritual warfare intensified in the days after the revival. I don’t know if any of us will ever see anything like that again in our lifetimes. I pray we do. Those are not days I took for granted. The burden God put on me defies description. I did not realize how tired I felt until the days after the revival. It took me the better part of two months to recuperate. There are still times when I wonder if I fully recuperated.

I wrote one devotional book and worked on revising another book during the year. My goal was to write and publish two books. The year ended without my publishing any new works. After the revival I really did not have the desire or energy to write. Nearly a month passed before I felt inspired to write anything. Since that time I have written 28 blogs. I have an ambitious project before me in writing a book about the revival but cannot muster the courage to get started on it.

I spent a good deal of time reading over the past year. I have especially read a great deal in December. Each year I set a goal to read a certain number of books. This year I set a goal to read 50. Though I worked to read diligently it looks like I finish 2010 having only read only 42 with 9 of those coming in the month of December.

I also set a goal to memorize two scriptures a week. I failed miserably. I set a goal to write a blog every day. By the end of this year I will have written a total of 190 blogs. This is the most I have ever written but not one every day. I see now that was a bit ambitious. I ended writing a blog on average of about every other day. Every day of the revival in August was captured in blogs.

I did not bench press 400 pounds like I had wanted. My highest max during the year was only 325. I also did not ride my bike for a sixty-mile ride like I had planned. I did work out consistently throughout the year enduring the torture of tractor tire flips, medicine balls, and wall slams just to name a few.

God gave new life and purpose to No Compromise Ministries. We are nearing completion on a remodel project to give a physically challenged teen a new and larger bedroom along with a handicap accessible bathroom. We just need to paint the interior, finish the bathroom and put on siding. Then we can celebrate this completed project for the glory of God. Brian has hoped that he would be able to watch the Super Bowl in that new bedroom. I will do all I can to make that a reality. We still need a great deal of money and volunteers to make this happen. In addition I am in the process of trying to raise $100,000 to build a hospital in Honduras. I will be traveling there in just a few days to gather information. To date we have raised $520 toward this project. I know God will supply until the work gets done. I also was invited to preach another youth camp and youth retreat during the year. These invitations do not come in as often with pastoring a church. I still feel called to preach outside events. In time I trust God will open additional doors. Preaching our revival in the fall whetted my appetite to get to do more of that.

I preached through the books of Philippians and I John as well as on the lives of Abraham, Joseph, and David. I preached many of the miracles of Jesus and have just now settled in for a long journey through Psalms and I Corinthians.

All in all I would say 2010 turned out to be a productive year. I will go back to the prayer closet to seek the Lord for direction in 2011 not only for my life but for the church as well. As 2010 fades into the pages of history I cannot help but contemplate the fact that God proved faithful in the midst of tragedy and the midst of triumph. The Psalmist penned it well; “ The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed and a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” [Ps 9:9-10]Just as God showed Himself faithful in each century starting with Adam and Eve, He will continue to show Himself faithful to you and me as we prepare to embark on a whole new year. Goodbye 2010 and hello 2011.