Hitting 'Reset'

On Oct 3 the current session of the BC Legislature will come to a close.  Members will return to Victoria for a morning session that will officially bring the session to an end.  It will hopefully mark the end of a season of turmoil, intrigue and political uncertainty on both sides of the House. 
.
On the afternoon of Oct 3, the Lieutenant Governor will attend the Legislature and read the Throne Speech announcing Government's new agenda, priorities and vision.  In this case it will be a lot like hitting the 'reset' button on your smart phone that hasn't been working properly.  The hope is that a fresh start will result in  things beginning to work they way they are supposed to.  Only time will tell if the intended goal will be achieved.

It's not only governments that seek the opportunity to reset the agenda in the hope of a fresh start.  There are people everywhere who long for a fresh start.  Sometimes life just becomes too complicated, messy and challenging and we need to hit reset.  Depending on who you are and where you look, there might appear to be many ways to accomplish that.  We have tried for years to find a reset button that suits our preferences but rarely completely meets our needs.

The New Testament carries a central recurring theme around the idea of 'reset'.  God knew that at some point we would all long for a fresh start.  He made us to crave it.  And so He sent Jesus who talked about new life with people from every social strata.  The apostle Paul talked about becoming a new creation and John wrote about the tremendous forgiveness available to anyone who asks for it.

The big difference between the government's reset and this one is that the government's reset is based on the hope that certain outcomes will result.  It may or may not be successful.  God's 'reset' is guaranteed to give us a fresh start.  Every time.

Need a fresh start?  Ask God to hit the 'reset' button in your life!  You won't regret it!

No Election Until 2013

Premier Christy Clark brought an end to months of speculation yesterday by announcing that there would be no fall election.  I confess that I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  I am thankful that there will be no election for at least 20 months.  It will be good for our province to have some political stability after the drama around the now failed HST.  That said, it's obvious that the Opposition has become very optimistic about their chances in 2013 so it's safe to say that we are about to experience the longest election campaign north of the US border.

While elections are part of the democratic process, I'm relieved that the Premier is waiting until 2013.  In terms of what we do as a ministry, a stable political environment makes it much easier to serve and minister to MLA's.  Elections create significant pressure, stress and tension for politicians. 

This window allows us to move forward with some exciting plans to ehance our ministry effectiveness.  Over the next few months we will be working towards building some important relationships that will allow us to invest in MLA marriages and homes.  We are excited about this tremendous opportunity.

We will also be working on a hard copy prayer guide for PrayBC that will feature MLA profiles and daily prayers.  We keep getting requests for a hard copy version of what we do and we are thrilled to be able to move forward with that option this fall.

No election means there will be a fall session of the Legislature.  This allows us to build on our progress we made through the Spring session and over the summer months.  It's going to be an exciting year of ministry and I can't wait to get started!!