The end of the year is nearly here.  It is a time to look back on the past 12 months and consider what they have taught us.  Some of these lessons are familiar to us.  We learn them, forget them, and then have to re-learn them.  Other lessons are new.  So here, in no particular order, are 5 Lessons I Have Learned in 2013.

1. Sleeping in ruins my days.  Don’t get me wrong.  Sleeping in can be nice.  But, too often, it negatively affects the rest of the day.  My days go so much better when I am out of bed by 7am (or earlier).
2. We cannot schedule the end of our lives.  This past year God took Kent Sawders and George Durham home to be with him very suddenly.  We never know when our life will end.
3. Missions has changed.  Email, computers, & skype have changed missions.  It used to be that missionaries in Africa were seldom heard from.  Now, they are just a few clicks (or a phone call) away.  It is staggering to consider how technology has changed missions.
4. Technology makes us feel busier than we really are.  I don’t know about you, but I am growing tired of my smart phone.  The problem comes when every text, call, email, and facebook message feels urgent.  In reality, none of them are urgent.  They may be urgent to someone else, but they are seldom urgent to me.
5. Reading the Bible fosters humility.  Truth (God’s Word) helps expose the selfishness that we all.  Too often, we get caught up in ourselves and grow increasingly selfish.  Filling our minds with Truth, pushes selfishness out and reminds us of the bigger picture.

That’s it.  I’m sure there are more lessons that I should have learned in 2013.  But, this will suffice for now.

What about you?  What have you learned in 2013?  Leave a comment below.