Years ago when I was pastor in a town of
under 2,000 members I worked regularly with the
youth, as we had no other paid staff to do so. I
remember hearing a conversation between some
of the boys about one of their “exciting episodes,”
which I certainly do not recommend that anyone
try. They were challenging one another as to
which one could drive in reverse to the next town,
which was more than twenty miles away. Wait
you haven’t heard it all…the challenge included
looking only in the rear view mirror through
binoculars, turned the wrong way. Clearly this
was a disaster waiting to happen.

We often take time in life to look
backwards, maybe even through binoculars, but
progress, real progress, is only made when we
move forward. So, I invite you to take a few
moments and maybe some prayer time to think
with me about where we go, going forward. I am
currently reviewing a couple of study
opportunities that look really great but I’m
wondering who might be interested in them.

The first one is a follow-up course to
Financial Peace University called The Legacy
Journey. Of course it requires the prerequisite that
you have been through the FPU course, you have been through the FPU course, so it would not be open to everyone. Dave Ramsey says
that ever since he finished teaching the first course of FPU, people have been asking, “what’s
next?” The Legacy Journey is the answer. In Financial Peace University there are seven steps to
obtaining the goal of Financial Peace. At the competition of the course, 9 or 13 weeks, most
people are still working on Step Two or Three and it takes an average of 18-2 months to finish
Step Three.

The Legacy Journey focuses on Steps Three through Seven and gives participants
encouragement and tools to accomplish each of those steps well. So if you have been through the
basic course and are interested in something that will help you stay on track and complete the
steps, The Legacy Journey may be just what you are looking for. If so, drop me a note or give me
a phone call so we can talk about it more.

The second opportunity also has a limited audience, but a broader one. It is called Marriage
101, and consists of six classes plus two more on line, that help strengthen marriages. No, your
marriage does not have to be in trouble, but it could be. The idea is to provide coaching and
encouragement to couples who want to grow in their relationship with each other and the Lord, or
maybe just want a check up to be sure they are maintaining their marriage well. After all, we do
check ups for our physical health, or vehicles, and even our houses. Is anything more important
than maintaining a great marriage. The biblical model is that our marriages, as Christians, should
represent the relationship between Christ and the church. That’s a pretty high bar and we might
benefit from some coaching to have a better chance of attaining it. Again, if that sounds like
something you are interested in, please let me know so we can talk further about it.

See you Sunday in the place where Christ has high expectations for all his followers!

Yours in Christ,
Bro. David (home: 940-683-1724; [email protected])