“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

Charlie has been flipping burgers for the past five years. He begins getting tired of his job as a cook, so he starts to look for something new. In his heart, Charlie always wished he could be a construction worker as his father was. Finally, Charlie got an interview with this construction company, and shortly after, he was hired. The hiring manager tells him to bring only his tool bag and tools to work with him the next day. Therefore, Charlie decides to use the tool bag his dad left for him, which had all the tools anyone would need. He was excited! The next day without realizing it, Charlie grabbed his apron and a few other items from his old job flipping burgers, and stuffed them in his bag with his tools and he headed out to his new job.

Before accepting Christ into our lives, many of us (if not all if us) were tired of the same old life we were living. We became fed-up with our mix-ups and mess-ups, just like Charlie was tired of flipping burgers. So instead of staying in our mess, we decided to receive Christ, and once we received Him, we became new creations. Like Charlie brought his apron and other things to his new job, sometimes without realizing it, we as Christians hold on to bits and pieces of our past, because we are use to those things and they are comforting. God wants us to realize that the things in our past will not help us with the future that we have in Him. We are now on a new assignment and we have a new job- everything old is behind us! So, choose to let go of your past and truly step into His newness!

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” -Psalm 91:1-2 (NKJV)

On a warm sunny day, a child and his father take a journey deep within the woods, to their place of refuge- their tree house. They do this once a week to spend quality time together and to get away from all the “girly-chaos” that goes on in their house. As they walk along the wooded trail, the boy feels safe and secure, because he knows that if anything tried to harm them, his dad would defeat it. When the tree house is visible, both of them run as fast as they can to see who can get there first. The father of course lets  his son win and then out of breath, they both climb the long ladder, which leads to the door of the tree house. While inside, they talk about and plan all sorts of things. Here is where they are creating a bond that can never be broken. This is their sanctuary, their secret place. They are alone together at last without any unwanted distractions.

The life that God has blessed us with is a journey that we can only experience once. Yet, instead of spending quality time and journeying with the Lord, we many times choose to be preoccupied with other things that steal our time away from Him. Yes, Facebook, cell phones, family time, ministry, and videogames and so on, all have their places, but they do not have a place above God. As our Father, God wants our focus to be on building a better relationship with Him and to desire to dwell in our secret place with Him- a place without chaos and distractions. He wants us to rest and be secure in Him, knowing that if we seek Him, He will handle everything that we ask of Him, if it is in His will. Remember that our most intimate, precious and memorable moments should be our time spent abiding under the shadow of the Almighty.