Remembering the Past

Pastor Ron began a new series today at The Rock entitled “Make a Difference”.  This series will usher in our 20th anniversary as a church in a few weeks.  Pastor Ron spent most of the sermon telling everyone why and how the church began and reliving moments that had defined the congregation.  He told stories of what people had done for each other in the church.  He told stories of people who had arrived on the first Sunday back in 1988.  He told the triumphs and what we had accomplished, how much of a difference we have made in the community and in the lives of people in the greater Wilmington area as well as people literally worldwide. 

While he was speaking I came up with a quote.  (It may have been God who came up with it, or maybe He just inspired me to think it, I’m not sure). 

“The only reason we should remember the past is to catapult us into the future.”

I thought about this quote a few times and thought, “I should write this down.”  I figured it was pretty simple and I could remember it without making note of it, but I finally persuaded myself to write it down.  I kept thinking about the quote during church, hearing my pastor speak of all the great things our church has been through, and even some of the not-so-great things.  It was great to relive some of those memories.  Some of the stories he told were about my family, so it was extremely personal and momentous to hear that.  However, that quote just rang in my head.

  “The only reason we should remember the past is to catapult us into the future.”

So many times people live in the past.  The good old days.  They relive what has happened with no thought as to what can still happen.  You see it all the time in sports.  You see it all the time at your job.  Unfortunately, you see it all the time in church.  If we only sang the same songs, if only so and so were still on staff, if we only this and only that, and before you know they have “if only-ed” themself into a rut.  So many times it seems that rut eventually turns into a grave.

I firmly believe that we should use the past to encourage, energize, enthuse, motivate, inspire, and excite us about what the future holds.  When we think of great things that have happened, that should give us hope that we can build on those things.  We should be reminded of what we have believed and in and what we were founded on and it should want us to impact the future in a way we never imagined.  As I heard of all the great stories Pastor Ron shared today, it made me excited about what the next 20 years hold for The Rock.  There are so many lives to be touched, lives to be changed, and we are the catalyst for the future.  That future is right now!

Notice that my quote doesn’t say “push us into the future” or “guide us into the future”.  The word catapult means to launch, shoot, hurl, leap, and move quickly.   When I think of something being catapulted I imagine it moving at lightning speed, focused and ready to hit what it was aimed at. 

Rockers that are reading this, let’s challenge each other.  While we celebrate and remember the great things God has done in our church and city the last 20 years, let’s let it light a fire in us to do so much more, and allow God to do so much more, in the next 20 years.  Let’s have visions and dreams that are so crazy that without God, there is NO stinkin’ way it can be accomplished.  Allow the remembrances to “catapult us into the future” so that we can truly “Make a Difference.”

Y’all be well.