by Michael Duduit The Dream of Beginning Again

Have you written your New Year's Resolutions yet? You know what I mean: those annual decisions we make to slim down, shape up, sort through, and generally get our lives back into some semblance of order.

One of my resolutions last January 1 was to lose 50 pounds. I did make it 90 percent of the way to my goal — at least until the holidays arrived. Now my first resolution for 2004 is to get rid of the five pounds I gained since mid-December!

There's something about the start of a new year that drives us to think about how we can improve our lives. We like the idea of leaving behind an old year, with all its mistakes and unfulfilled potential. We appreciate the chance to start fresh with a brand new year. The first day of January is like a newborn baby — innocent and unblemished and ready to be shaped. New Year's Resolutions reflect that dream we all have of being able to begin again.

In the second chapter of Exodus, we see a man who desperately needed a new beginning. Picture Moses sitting by that well in Midian. He had been a child of promise, a Hebrew boy miraculously protected and adopted into the family of Pharaoh himself. With his natural mother as his nurse to teach him of his own people, Moses also had access to the best schools, the best teachers in the ancient world as a prince of Egypt.

Now in middle age, Moses kills an Egyptian, becomes a wanted man, and is forced to escape into a desert exile. He finds himself alienated and alone, sitting by a well in Midian.

Have you ever been sitting by that well, bruised and abused and wondering what went wrong? I've been there before — banged up by life or other people, hoping for a second chance — and I suspect you've been there, too.

His exile was caused by his own action — his impetuous and violent reaction to an injustice he observed. In the face of oppression, Moses had a good motive but a bad response.

Sometimes we find ourselves by those wells because of things we've done, don't we? Maybe, like Moses, we intended only the best, but some combination of our actions and other circumstances produced a disastrous outcome. And we end up on the outside looking in, sitting by a well in Midian.

His exile was also caused by the actions of others. Moses looked around to be sure no one was watching before he killed the Egyptian, but somehow, some way the story had gotten out and now Moses was a regular on "Egypt's Most Wanted."

Think about it for a second. If no one else was watching, who could possibly have reported on what Moses had done? The Hebrew worker he'd saved, that's who! The very person Moses risked himself to save had reported on him and become the source of his own worst nightmare!

It happens that way sometimes, doesn't it? The very person you try to help misinterprets your motives, or is too busy trying to save his or her own skin to worry about yours, and becomes the catalyst for your exile. And there you are, sitting by a well in Midian and dreaming up ways to pay back!

If the story ended there, with a forsaken Moses sitting by a well in the middle of the desert, we would write it off as just another tragedy. The reason this story is important to us, thousands of years later, is that it demonstrates that the dream of beginning again can become a reality for us just as it was for Moses.

Moses has taken up residence in the desert, married, and become a shepherd to his father-in-law's flock. Forty years pass, and the story resumes in the third chapter of Exodus to unfold a turning point in the life of Moses, as he encounters God in a burning bush. Moses' new beginning is initiated by God's call. After four decades in the desert, Moses doesn't go looking for God; God seeks out Moses. He grabs his attention and extends a call to a new beginning, an exciting new challenge that will change his life forever.

God isn't interested in seeing us sit by those wells for the rest of our lives. Has there been some tragedy or crisis that disrupted your life — the loss of a spouse through death or divorce, the loss of a child, the loss of a career, perhaps some other critical event that has sidelined you or made you sense that your life can never be quite as worthwhile as before.

It is often only after those crisis events that God is able to use us most effectively. For Moses, it was only after a terrible sin and forty years of personal exile that he was prepared to lead his people out of national exile. For Hosea, it took an unfaithful spouse to fully reveal to him the depth of God's love and forgiveness. It was only after Paul had persecuted the early church that he came to understand God's grace and power made possible through Jesus Christ in his own life.

Winston Churchill had nearly reached the height of political power in Britain early in his career; by the age of 33 he was a cabinet minister and one of the nation's most popular speakers. Yet a series of events and unpopular positions caused Churchill to lose his political standing and become a subject of ridicule and rejection. By the early 1930's, he had been excluded from the seats of power. Churchill's prophetic warnings about Adolf Hitler were ignored by an English public that preferred to hear comforting words of peace.

When Britain was plunged into World War II, Churchill was already 65 years of age, eligible to retire on a government pension. Yet that is the moment when the nation turned to him, and Churchill became the prime minister who inspired the British people to remain firm during the darkest days of the war.

Have you experienced some tragedy or crisis in your life, and now you're seated next to a well in Midian wondering why? Perhaps it's at this very moment in your life that God is calling you to begin again — to experience a new and exciting phase of your life and leadership that you might never have imagined before. Perhaps God can use you now — with your new insights and new understanding — in ways you would never have been capable of before. God may be preparing you to realize the dream of beginning again in your life.

God called Moses to a new beginning, a second chance. Today, He is still in the business of helping people realize the dream of beginning again. That doesn't mean there aren't barriers to be overcome, but it does mean that they can be overcome through God's help.

Age is a barrier that can be overcome. In his sermon in Acts 7, Stephen points out that Moses was 40 years old when he murdered the Egyptian and fled to Midian; then another 40 years passed before God's call. So Moses was 80 years old when he experienced the dream of beginning again. Think you're too old to change? No one is too old to respond to God's call.

Uncertainty is a barrier that can be overcome. All the excuses Moses offered reflect a basic uncertainty about the future: Was he up to it? Would he be accepted or would he be rejected as he had been 40 years earlier?

It's as if God hands us a road map with the second half of the trip torn away. "Where's the rest of the map?" we ask, and God replies, "You'll get that when you reach the end of the part you already see." In the face of our uncertainty, God assures us that He will not send us anywhere He does not go with us; He will not call us to any challenge He doesn't equip us to meet.

Are you at a place in your life right now where you dream of beginning again, of a fresh start? There are two requirements if we are to truly begin again:

Beginning again requires putting the past behind you. Those things that bound you in the past have to be released in order to move forward into God's future for you. Have you experienced broken dreams, broken relationships, broken promises that left you sitting by a well in Midian, lost and alone? Let go and move on.

It was Christmas morning, and the little boy wanted the shiny new toy truck his daddy was holding, but he already had his hands full of other toys. Daddy said, "You'll have to put those other things down before I can give you this one." What is God waiting to hand you and me right now — waiting until we empty our hands of the old hurts and fears. Beginning again requires putting the past behind you.

And beginning again requires beginning. After all is said and done, you have to act. You have to do something if you're ever going to realize the dream of beginning again.

Babe Ruth was for many years the all-time home run champion, with 714 major league home runs. But did you know he was also the all-time strike out champion? In fact, he struck out almost twice as often as he hit home runs. He knew that he had to risk some strike outs in order to hit those home runs. Someone asked Babe Ruth the secret of his success. He said, "I just keep on swingin' at 'em!"

That's true in every area of life: you won't hit anything if you don't swing. You won't go anywhere if you don't start. You'll never experience the joy of beginning again if you don't begin somewhere.

Only you and God know the pain of your past. But He does know, and He will help you to overcome any barrier that stands in the way of a new beginning for you. A new year has begun, filled with amazing potential. Make it a new chapter in your life and leadership, as you allow God to produce a new beginning through the power of His love and grace in you.

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Michael Duduit is President/CEO of American Ministry Resources LLC, and editor of LeaderLinks. You can contact him at michael@leaderlinks.com.