It’s just on 7:30 in the am, and it is already 25 degrees (that’s about 80f for your crazy North Americans), maybe a little warmer out here in Dural, and it will only go up. Somewhere around 42 they say (107f) which is getting up there.
Were I still home, I think I may have dragged myself out of bed already to turn on the air conditioning, but I am not home.
I get to kick off my new years preaching at our St. Columbs church in Arcadia. Initially, I was a little bummed that I would miss out on some of the New Years festivities because I know that I need to get some kind of sleep if I am going to preach effectively, but on consideration, I was quite happy for the opportunity.
Firstly, it has been my experience that New Years Eve parties are never quite what you hope they will be. The great view of the fireworks also means being cheek to jowl with a million other people crowding any half decent spot of land on the harbour. The chance to meet up with your mates in the city is frustrated by the fact that EVERYONE in Australia is on their mobiles at the same time, so you can never get through and Transport in and out of the city is a debacle!
Secondly, it is good to have a sense of focus as we come into the new year. To remember what it is all about & where we want to go. It’s a time of the year when people start making resolutions. They want to be wiser in the way that they live. They want to be more effective in what they do. With this in mind, it was appropriate (though not intentional when I picked it) that I preach on Psalm 1. It’s a psalm which is all about wisdom. Finding the right council. Here it is.

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit int he seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

If you want to hear the sermon, you could come back to St. Jude’s on the 22nd when I will be giving it again, or if that is a Geographic Impossibility, I could send you through the full text, otherwise, I will let you ponder over the Psalm yourself, but for this one thought.
As you get ready for the new year, and you resolve to make it better, or smarter, a “growth year”, where are you going to look for wisdom? What is going to be your focus? The focus on now, or the focus on Eternity?