I recently traveled to the Grade School I attended from 4-8 grade. Geff Grade School was a place of shaping and forming for me in many ways. I had the opportunity a few years ago to introduce my family to some of my former teachers and coach. Coach Herbie, as we called him, was a formidable man in my life as he expressed his love for the game of basketball and forced me to give my all in preparation for games and in games. When I was at the school recently for Elijah's Scholastic Bowl match, Herb brought Elijah several sheets of paper that included my stats from basketball during my time at Geff. As Elijah was looking through these stats sheets, I found myself misremembering my stats. I remember my shooting percentage being better; my number of points per game being more; and my number of quarters played being greater. As I considered how I view the past, I was amazed at how often I find myself either making the past much better than it was or much worse than it actually was.

In Genesis 19:17, we read, "As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!'" And a little later in verse 26, "But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt!"

The act of looking back at our past accomplishments and past failures can be helpful, but must not be prescriptive for how we see ourselves. When we yearn for the past, wishing for the "days of old" we miss out on what God is doing today and how God desires to work in our lives in our present situation. Also, we often experience the past in ways that are not truly accurate to the reality of the condition. When we overstate the tragedy of our past sins and mistakes, the devil uses that to tear down our perception of ourselves, heaping shame onto our lives. When we buy into this philosophy of "how awful I was" or "how awful I am," we limit the grace Christ offers us that will overcome our past. When we overstate the good, we tend to see our present condition as less than appealing and we beat ourselves up for not being "as good as I was."

When Lot and his family were fleeing the sin of Sodom and Gamorrah, as God was putting an end to these cities, they were instructed to not look back. Yet, Lot's wife made the conscience decision to look back to the way things used to be instead of setting her eyes on God who was leading them to something greater. In Hebrews 12:1-2 we read, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

As we continue to seek Jesus through these 50 days leading up to Pentecost, let us "fix our eyes on Jesus." Let us not look back to the sin of the past, but let us "throw off the sin that so easily entangles." Let us not dwell on our past accomplishments, but let us "throw off everything that hinders." Let us, "run with perseverance the race marked out for us." As we continue to seek and wait the empowering Holy Spirit, we can affirm that the future that lies ahead in Christ is beautiful, grace-filled, and adventurous.

Prayer: We thank you for our past and all that we can learn from our past success and our past failures. Draw our eyes away from living and focusing in the past, that we might fully experience what you are doing in the present. May we participate in all that you are doing and sense your work in our midst and in the people around us. Help us each day to "fix our eyes on Jesus" that we might not lose our focus. Amen.