It is the start of a new season.  No matter what happened last season, there is a clean slate.  2008 is here!  For most of us, this means a book cover or binder which contains a story described amongst the 365 pages/days of this year.  Yes, with this New Year, it brings the potential of a brand new game.  In basketball and football the horn signals the beginning of the game. The thrill, the adrenaline, and the sentiments of expectation, these are feelings of a new start…  If you asked a convicted criminal, a high school or college student entering his freshmen year, a sinner forgiven for their faults, or anyone of us filled with problems after a good nights rest the question about how they feel, they would all answer with many different words but one meaning, HOPE!  They would feel like the past is behind them and from now going forward there is a chance for a better tomorrow.  I believe those were the exact feelings Noah had in Gen. 8:11 where it says, “When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf!” To Noah this leaf was more than a piece of foliage or piece of a tree.  This leaf after many days and nights surrounded by water was a promise; it brought HOPE.  Hope is proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk.  We all love the olive leaves of life.  “It appears the cancer is in remission.”  “I have decided to help you with those financial issues you are having.”  “I know someone who can help you with your problem.”  What’s more, we love the doves that bring them?  The best friend who listens to you the whole night after your first heart break, he gives you an olive leaf.  The husband of many years consoles the husband of a few months, when he tell him that problems come and go but this too shall pass.  Do you know what he is doing?  He is giving an olive leaf.  We all love olive leaves perhaps that is why so many people loved JESUS!  In John 8:4, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.”  Caught red handed, with your hand in the cookie jar, yanked from a bed of promiscuity.  While Jesus was teaching, this lady was cheating, and the Pharisees were out to stop them both.  Jesus replied, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Silence. Both the eyes and rocks of the self appointed custodians of conduct fell to the ground. Then the dove of heaven offers her an olive leaf.  “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”  This New Year the Lord brings Grace and a new Life!  He always has forgiveness for your sin.  This is the hope He gives.  This is the hope we need.  I want to encourage those that are struggling.  Don’t know what to say or need hear something?  Open up the pages of the olive leaf tree, your Bible.  The olive leaf for a believer is the scriptures.  In Romans 15:4, it says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.”  Do you have a Bible? Do you need a Bible?  Do you know a Noah?  Do you need a Noah?  Are you a Noah?  Then start passing out the leaves of HOPE! 

To the lonely: “God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5)

To those who feel guilty: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”(Romans 8:1)

To the jobless: “In all things God works for the good of those who love him.”(Romans 8:28)

To those who feel beyond God’s grace: “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16)

Your Bible an endless basket of olive leaves.  Won’t you share one?  I challenge you as you receive one to share it!

What a difference one leaf makes…

What a difference one man/God made giving His life on a Cross?

If you have not accepted Jesus into your heart, I challenge you to accept His olive leaf of Grace and Life in 2008!  You don’t need anyone else.  You can do this from the privacy of your home.  Where ever you find yourself reading this, stop and pray with me… 

“Lord, I accept you as my one and only Savior.  I need your direction for this New Year.  I ask you to please forgive my sins and write my name in the Book of Life.”

If you have prayed this prayer of salvation, please contact anyone of the 4-One members via email.  We hope to direct you to a spiritual hospital, a church, where you can congregate.  We hope to hear from you!

Thine in Christ,

Jorge E. Ventura

Contact Jorge at: Jorge@4-one.org