By the time you read this, we will all know whether or not great catastrophe will have come upon the world at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve. Sound familiar? It should.

It seems like a century ago that many in the world fretted about the millennium bug known as Y2K. Do you remember the concern and worry that gripped so many as the clocked ticked its way toward the year 2000? Planes were going to crash, phone systems were going to cease to work, electricity was going to fizzle out and ball point pens were going to leak in shirt pockets. Sure it's easy enough to look back and laugh now, but the possibilities were serious, and the potential consequences did loom larger than life at times. However, as I reflect upon last year, this year scares me even more. Why? The emptiness of plenty.

You see, I've noticed that some of the most dangerous times in the lives of God's children seem to be those times when all seems safe and secure. There is nothing like hard times to remind you of your need for God just as there is also nothing like good times to tempt you away from Him. So at the beginning of a new year - one without a palpable sense of doom upon the world - let's be vigilant to give Jesus the first and best part of our lives.

Compared to the Y2K threat, 2001's beginning will probably be "ho hum". May our devotion to God never be so.

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