Happy New Year, again! During my daily devotions, I decided to look up the word new in the Bible.

To my surprise, practically every book in the Old and New Testaments contains the word new.

It's as if every moment God's people who wrote about their encounters with the holy spirit were confronted with something new.

This year, 2012, will be challenging for us in The United Methodist Church.

The question for those of us in the mainline church will be whether we will embrace change and trust in the power of God to lead us to become a movement reaching the next generation or whether we will shrink back in fear of change, holding on to what is comfortable and familiar.

I, for one, am excited about God's future for the church.

It amazes me what God can accomplish through individuals with open hearts and willing spirits to seek and discern the will of God for their lives.

I've discovered that no matter what our circumstances, life never stays the same.

I've also discovered that it is my attitude toward change that determines my outcome.

The good news is that God has equipped us with the ability to choose our attitude.

Although there are many uncertainties in 2012, I choose to rejoice in the true and living God who will do a great work in us and through us during the coming year.

I like the pastor and scholar Eugene Petersen's interpretation of Isaiah 42:5-9 in The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language: "God's message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, who breathes life into earth’s people, makes them alive with his own life: 'I am God. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, to make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons. I am God. That's my name. I don't franchise my glory, don't endorse the no-god idols. Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled. I'm announcing the new salvation work. Before it bursts on the scene, I'm telling you all about it.' "

Happy and blessed New Year!