It’s the first Friday of 2025. What does that mean for you? Someone asked me at the gym on New Year’s Day if I had any resolutions. I kind of chuckled and said, “I don’t need a new year to decide I’m going to do something.” But the short answer is I do have some new ideals I’m taking with me into 2025, and I’m not afraid to tweak and change those as the rest of the game progresses. I ended 2024 fully scheduled:  started at a new gym, kept working my full-time job, roped every day, and of course blog writing. I felt a greater urge this week to not wait until 2025 to do something or start something, but to keep momentum.

The resounding theme within me seemed to come up in other aspects of life as well. On the last Sunday of 2024, Pastor Paul talked about preparing for lift off. He centered his message around a rocket launch; the momentum, the fuel, and build up to eventually dramatically lift the rocket into the atmosphere. Although his points were more around motion, I couldn’t help but think how still the rocket is before take-off. I’m no rocket scientist, but I could only imagine the amount of manpower and preparation into launching something into space. Before the lift off, there’s hours and hours where the rocket is sitting there in stillness. There’s much persistence in preparation to lift off. And through it all, the rocket is still.

I’m not planning to dissect the entire sermon for you today, but his perspective impressed upon me what I had been feeling before I walked into the room:  we can’t let up. The mission isn’t achieved in our own power, but rather in acknowledging power above and beyond us. We must choose humility, because we don’t know what twists and turns the rollercoaster of life will take us on. And we can’t face it in our own power. We must have faith that His power is more than enough. I think that’s the piece that I have had to work at the most.  

Specifically, I remember this fall, driving to customer meetings, and feeling uneasy about the prayers I had been petitioning, my own rocket launches if you will. One of my great friends of faith called me, just to check in. As we got deeper into conversation, I found myself swelling with emotion. Christen reminded me to keep trusting in the process. I honestly told her, “I am fully committed to it, no doubt in my mind. But I don’t have faith that He is going to actually do it.”

“Trust God when you can’t trace God.”—Pastor Paul Owens, Fresh Start Church

Sometimes you can have all the commitment in the world to trust but lack the faith that it will happen, especially when we can’t see it all together. What did you leave undone in 2024 that you are still believing God for? Do you still believe it can be done? Stillness in your ship could be a continued preparation for lift off. So don’t let off. As I write today, the feelings of doubt or lack of faith aren’t in me. I’ve come to peace with the fact that I don’t know what this rollercoaster looks like. But I’m locked in, committed to it, and I won’t waste the preparation that’s been put in for the lift off. My resolve for 2025:  Listen, especially when it doesn’t make sense, and declare faith over the times that don’t look how I think they should.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galations 6:9

Some of the noise I’ve heard leading into 2025 is quite opposite from this theme of lift off. Self-care and self-preservation are strong in America right now. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe in taking care of ourselves, utilizing vacation and rest when needed, but I can’t really get behind this idea of “I don’t need to do anything in my life differently” or “I’ll just let it happen.” This is what many of these feel-good phrases translate to. It doesn’t take a new month or a new year to decide to do something differently, but I think we can all agree, there’s always a way we could better allocate our time and resources. Plus, as much as we can try to stay the same, inevitably things change around us. The rollercoaster can pose changes to our atmosphere that aren’t what we would choose for ourselves. But we can still use those twists and turns to pursue what God has for us if we do not give up.

 On New Year’s Eve, Grams was channel surfing, and she stopped on a speaker who was talking to a group of prison inmates. Not sure who he was, but he was passionate. He asked the group, “Do you know what the most important 10 minutes of any sporting event are?” I thought to myself, surely, it’s 4^th quarter, where it all shakes out. His response surprised me:

“The most important 10 minutes of any sport are the first five minutes of the first quarter and the first 5 minutes of the third quarter. It sets the tone.”—Unknown

The more I let it saturate, the more it made sense. Setting the tone and the atmosphere can affect the rest of the game. Not to say you can’t overcome difficulties in those situations, but the energy direction will be different depending on those ten minutes. If we were to break down the year like a college football game with 15-minute quarters, the month of January is equivalent to the first 5 minutes of first quarter. Each week of January is 1 minute and some change. I didn’t do the math beyond that, but you get the picture.

This utilization of time and tone reminded me of my youngest sister, Grace. As I briefly mentioned last week, Grace was a D1 setter, and earned many accolades in her career. But before she stepped on the volleyball court collegiately, she had her own battle in what would be the equivalent of the first 5 minutes of her third quarter. Junior year of High School during club practice, Grace sustained a knee injury that would bench her for the remainder of the club season. The injury happened the first week of practice, and she would be fortunate to recover to play in the end of season tournament. Junior year is scouting year. This is arguably the most important year to be on the court to be recruited (perhaps another first five minutes of 3^rd quarter parallel).  With determination and grit, and my mom driving her, she never missed a practice. She was voted team captain, though she would sit the bench and not play through the balance of the season. My mom would write motivating quotes and story boards for her. Grace would journal the meaning of words like perseverance. Most of the memorabilia from this spread of life are still at my parents’ home today.

One night after practice, on the hour drive back, Grace and mom were discussing the season. They both attended all tournaments, and Grace was a thermostat for her team even from the bench. She has a fire about her that is contagious. And even from the crowd you can tell that she has the will to win. There’s even been referees who remember her tenacity for the game. Mom had commented to Grace that although this wasn’t the season she had hoped for, it was still ranking second in terms of her favorites. Grace quickly responded, “No mom, this has been the best season. I’ve been able to see from the bench how I can set better for my team. I’ve gotten to analyze the competition and see where their weaknesses are. This has been the best season because I know what I need to do to be a better player for my team. And win.”

She was 17 when she had that epiphany. Grace went on to be recruited by the University of North Carolina-Asheville. Among other awards, she was multiple-time Big South Player of the Week. She was awarded the Big South Female Scholarship Athlete of the Year. And graduated Valedictorian with Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. In addition to speaking at graduation, she was also awarded her diploma on a silver platter, a tradition for the Asheville Bulldogs. Through it all, she was always there for her teammates, and never wasted a single moment. Her choice with what to do in a 3^rd quarter moment of her life would change her destiny for the rest of it. Had she taken the injury as a benched year mentally, I know none of this would have happened, nor would she have had the impact she had on her team, her classmates, and her peers. I never have asked Grace if Asheville was what she always dreamed of, and at this point it doesn’t matter. Sometimes the rollercoaster we are on takes us where we are meant to be, regardless of where we think we should be.

You’ve been given the chance to set the tone for the year. What you do today, this week, and this month will set the pace until halftime. Maybe 2024 was a bench year, but it doesn’t have to be a sidelined time. There’s perspective in wherever you are in your journey, even if it isn’t holding the trophy above your head or celebrating your dramatic launch into space. I do know there’s great reward in doing good and never giving up. Your ship may be still today, but you don’t know what momentum could be building for tomorrow. It could be leading to your silver platter moment. It could be your day for lift off.

I hope this blog post lifted your spirits and encouraged you in your first five minutes of first quarter in 2025. Your comments and support mean so much to me, so thank you for taking the time to read, share, and post about it. Be strong in your convictions this year, and I’ll see you next week!