New Year, New Things: HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025!
Isaiah 43: 18-1918 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”.
With the above text from the Bible, Isaie is challenging us not to dwell in the past. Like now as we embark in 2025 A.D., we should enter with excitement and enthusiasm not because we know the future, but my friends, the One who holds our future in His hand, knows very well that very future! And the good news does not end here! That One who holds the future is the same One who is inviting us, through his prophet, to forget the past, especially the tough times, losses, failures, etc. we have encountered in 2024.Why? Because He is doing a new thing! He is making way in the wildness., in the DESERT. I am now sure we can really capture enough what is the “DESERT”! Borrowing the words of Pekka Simojoki of Finland, she defines the wildness and, in my opinion, the experience of Isaie in these words:
“In the desert, anyone can lose his way.
No protection, full of danger and decay.
In the desert, how I search for the living water
And the bread, and the bread.
Water’s flowing through the desert and the sand…
Ever flowing, it will wash away all stain,
Bring life back once again
To this dry and blistered plain
Many suffer and they pray God on high
In the desert, how I seek refreshing shelter
From the heat, from the heat…”
My friends, I seem to hear in my ears, My Lord speaking about all the challenges we have met last year: these challenges are now only part of history. God is promising us new things. God is making a way from nowhere for us, in 2025 Hallelujah! God is about to whip away our tears from our eyes. Please don’t get me wrong! I am not suggesting that this year, we will be free of any pain or suffering! My challenge to us is that we remember all the time that God-Immanuel (God with us) will never abandon us. Even when we seem to go through the valley of shadow of death, let us not have fear, because He is with us (Psalm 23).
In our own organization AMI, we have every reason to rejoice as we enter the year 2025. We all know that God has done a lot through us and sometimes in spite of us. The Basic school of Kibati has been completed, we have successfully completed the Vacation Bible School in three locations, namely in Gasenyi, Gitega and Mugoboka. God has surprised us in sending our way Mr. Innocent NDAYISABA as our new COORDINATOR. Mr. Ndayisaba comes to us with a wealth of competence and experience. Trained as a school teacher at Musema Teaching School, Ndayisaba taught in different schools and locations. He then joined the prestigious University of Burundi where he studied linguistics with emphasis on translation of English, French, Swahili, and Kirundi. He is married and he and his wife Vestine are proud parents of 5 children: three boys and 2 girls. He also serves as an associate pastor at Mugoboka Baptist Church where Rev. Michel NTAMUBANO is the senior Pastor. Please join me in welcoming our new Coordinator: Mr. Innocent Ndayisaba!
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