One Saturday morning I got up early and went to the velodrome. Well, the first time I went around the track I slowed down, made the right turn, and realized I did not have enough speed to get up the hill. I had to walk it from halfway up. The second time wasn't any better. So the third time I went around the track, I decided to switch both sets of gears at the same time. If you've ever ridden a bicycle you know that this is a really stupid idea.

I was having a really bad day, and it wasn’t even 9:00 in the morning yet. I thought, “Why should these other people have all the fun while I had to fight with my chain and get grease and prickers in my hands?”

It turns out that there will always be people who are better off than you. On the other hand, there will always be people who are worse off than you.

I got a phone call the other day from a friend. It sounded like he was driving because his voice went in and out. He was going on and on about different aspects of his life, and a trip that he took, and I responded to him and raised a couple questions, but I wasn’t sure he heard me with the poor cell reception.

Well after a while I realized he must have been talking to somebody else. He must have called me by accident while he was in the conversation with this other person.

He probably had no idea that I was listening in on his conversation, thinking that it was meant for me.

But imagine if you could listen in on people's lives. Imagine if you could hear what they're thinking about. Imagine if you could hear what they're thinking about you. Would you want to know?

A few weeks ago, there was a terrific football game on. It was on a Saturday evening and the Jacksonville Jaguars were playing against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers got off to an early lead, and by halftime, it was 27 to 0 in favor of the Chargers.

Can you imagine going into the second half not only behind by 27 points but with 0 points on the board for yourself? It must have felt hopeless. But it wasn't hopeless.

Yes, there will be times in our lives when we're tempted to quit. They'll be times when we're ready to give up, when we're at the end of the rope and we cannot even imagine climbing back up, but we're here to tell you that it's not over.

Twenty six years ago I spent time with my then 93 year-old grandmother. I said, "Grandma, you've seen a lot of tough times. What was the roughest time? Where did you have the most difficulty?” She turned her head toward me and she said, "Oh, I've forgotten."

It’s not that she was forgetful at all – she just let go of the hurt and the pain. She remembered all the good times and all the blessings. But she intentionally forgot the rough times.

You see, when you look ahead, you can't see what's behind you. And of course, the opposite is true too. When you look behind you, you can't see where you are going.

It's nearly Epiphany, the day when we celebrate the three wise men, or the magi, coming and finding baby Jesus. When the wise men arrived, they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

I mention this today because the beginning of the year is a good time for us to take stock, to check in with ourselves, check in with God, and seek out our calling in life.

We all have different callings and we each have gifts that God has given us to use. Though as my friend Willie says, “Too many of us get sidetracked by shiny things.” All too often, we are distracted by shiny things, we are dazzled by the gold when maybe our gift is frankincense or myrrh.

Last week, right before Christmas I wrote about sometimes when my kids were little gifts actually got thrown away with the wrapping paper.

Well let me tell you about something that happened and Christmas Day last year. I had given my wife a bracelet that I bought in Georgetown, but wouldn't you know it, the day after Christmas she couldn't find it. It was nowhere to be found. Then this year Andrea went into the garage to get some extension cords, and when she did that, she found her bracelet!

The bracelet had been with us all year long, even though we didn't realize it.

When my daughters were little – really little, Christmas was amazing. Later, as they got a bit older, but were still little, Christmas morning got a little bit more wild.

Sometimes we can get so excited about the time with family and friends, the big dinner, the gifts, the excitement, and fun of Christmas, that we can miss Jesus in it all. It’s not that we “throw Him away,” it’s just that sometimes He gets lost in the wrapping paper.

Don’t let that happen this year. Jesus is the center of Christmas, not merely another gift. He really is the reason for the season.

Once Upon a time in a congregation far, far away, my staff decided to surprise me on my birthday. We were just finishing up our weekly staff meeting, and one of them brought out a box with a cake in it.

They wished me a happy birthday, and took the cake out of the box and written on the cake in bold letters were the words, “Good luck, Bob!”

It turns out that life doesn't always go exactly the way we had planned. There's an old saying, “We make plans, and God laughs."

God has filled our lives with blessings – some of which we asked for; most of which we didn’t even have a clue about beforehand. And some are just wild surprises.

Life is like a snow globe, every once in a while, it gets shaken, and the snow comes down differently. It’s never exactly the same twice.

It’s a little bit like the times we are shaken up in life – except for one thing: the wonder of life shake-ups is that we get to help decide how the pieces of our life are going to come back together.

In short, we can use those times to either become bitter or become better. The choice is up to us.

I don’t know if you know, but here is your interesting historical fact for the day.

The Bible says nothing about halos being on angels.

So, one can only wonder, how did we end up with paintings, movies, and costumes of angels and saints with halos around or above their heads?