I am firmly convinced that God blessed each of us with a need. The need is so obvious, yet it is something that most of us don't think about and take for granted. The need is a life filled with companions.

Every great story, every great movie, has the struggle between being victorious over something or being defeated. Yet, each of those stories have one thing in common: Companions. Here's a short list--Robin Hood, Braveheart, and even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. He really wasn't so alone, was he?

Gateway is a place where a person can find grace a truth. Grace means I love you no matter what. Truth means I will be honest no matter what. Our Growth Groups are a great place to find those companions who will give you grace and truth. Our Growth Groups are made up of a small group of people who are doing life together. Need some companions? Come check out Gateway and be part of something bigger than yourself.

We're studying tomorrow morning about Jonah's anger. I think we all get frustrated. Frustrated at people, our jobs, our lives, and even frustrated at God. Maybe even angry with God.He just doesn't seem to show up when we need Him and He doesn't seem to do what we want when He does. It's like He is impersonal...distant...unaware...uncaring. I think that is why a lot of people would rather say that God doesn't exist. It's easier to say that He doesn't exist than to say that He does and He just doesn't care.

In Jonah 4, Jonah becomes angry at God because He knows that God is "gracious and compassionate". The background here is that Jonah wishes for a very wicked and evil city to be destroyed. After Jonah pronounces God's judgment that they are about to be destroyed, the people recognize their evil and repent (turn) away from their wickedness. God decides to spare them and Jonah is furious.

So is it okay to get angry with God? Does Jonah get away with it? What does God do with him and ultimately this evil city? If you can't join us on Sunday, listen in to the podcast found in the resource section.

I think we all know that our New Year's Resolutions seldom work. Our will sometimes just isn't strong enough. Whether it is exercising, quitting an addiction, or as simple as keeping our house cleaner, our will just doesn't come through. Maybe it is because we have cleaned the word up.

The proper word is probably repentance. We don't like that word. It makes us uncomfortable. It means we actually HAVE to do something rather than just trying to muster up enough will power. In our series on Jonah, we are going to talk about "Jonah Obeys" in tomorrow's message. In that message, we are going to look at the word repentance and discover what a gift the word really is, rather than a burden.

When we think about it, perhaps we should call it New Year's Repentances rather than New Year's Resolutions. Resolutions give us "wiggle" room. We can always say "Well, I really wanted to...it just didn't work out. Oh well, there's always next year." Repentance is really the word we need. It means to do a 180 in our lives. So, what's your New Year's Repentance?

Shari and I had a lot of things going on throughout the end of 2007. It just seems like the fall got so hectic and so crazy that I would forget to blog and then it just got to where I didn't want it to be sporadic...so I just stopped.

The good news is that on November 30th, we had Josiah Colton Ennes. He's much like his father--handsome, cuddly, and everybody wants to see him. Okay, okay...the time has come in which I am now known as Josiah's dad and I'm not just Alex anymore. But, that's a good thing.

We've had terrible episodes of colic with him, but things have seemed to settle down over the last couple of days. We are thankful for a pediatrician who has worked with us on this and has identified a possible cause. We are also grateful that she prayed with us at our last visit. It's nice to know that we don't have to always rely on medicine and that there are parts of the medical community who realize there is a greater Healer involved than just science.

I guess my New Year's resolution is to stay more faithful to the blog...so stay tuned!

"30 Days to Live" is our next series that we will go through! What would you do different? How would you live life if you really knew that 30 Days is all that you had left?

The reality is that none of us really do know how much longer we have. Join us at Pickwick and Frolic's Hilarities Theater on East 4th in downtown Cleveland as we challenge one another to live life to the fullest. Free parking is available at the 515 Euclid Avenue Parking Garage.