City Life Starter

This week, the last week of the year, we are reflecting on the year here in Starter. I encourage you to do the same with us. In my two post I will share some personal reflections then some reflections on the church. 
2016 was quite a year for me personally. The highlight was Eleanor and I celebrated our tenth year of marriage! For a nerdy, funny looking, guy such as myself having a girl this long is quite an accomplishment! We spent two weeks traveling Europe, eating exotic food, seeing old stuff, and best of all…no kids!!
We had hoped that by making the time to get away it would solve all of our martial, personal, emotional, and any other type of problems we had. We thought that maybe some R & R is what we needed to make everything inside of us tingle with perfection and maturity. What we learned during and after the trip is that we take our baggage with us, you cannot outrun yourself. My issues, and by the way your issues as well, are inside of you, therefore we need something outside of us to bring healing and peace. 
Enter the Gospel, the good news, of Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. He is called that because the world, and those who live in it, are full of darkness! A great darkness that has no hope within itself for light! We desperately need something, or someone, who is outside of this world to invade, descend, and infiltrate our dark residence and provide some much needed illumination! 
“The Light shines (penetrates, invades, descends upon) the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1:5‬. This is what the Gospel is, something outside of this world, Jesus, has come inside of the world. This invasion causes an inversion. It is greater than when the Beatles landed, when Pearl Harbor happened, or when the first computer was invented! 
Reflect on these questions as you finish up this last week of 2016:
1. What am I looking to functionally for hope when I am down, and the promise of rest when I am exhausted?
2. Is that provision of hope and promise of rest inside this world or outside?
3. What specific thing(s) about Jesus do I need to focus on and meditate on today?