I don’t think of myself as the kind of prophet who “foretells” the future.  But I will disclose that I believe the Lord has been making me sensitive to an inevitability; What the Church (by that, I mean the world-wide bride of Christ, but in particular, the Church in America) will shortly be going through will require far, far more strength and commitment than they currently have.  We have had unbelievable luxury; but that has not strengthened us.  We have had blessings; but they did not make us more grateful, or mindful of the Giver.  And now, there are rumblings from the ground the modern church has taken its ease on; there are threatening cracks in the fortress, and increasing portents that threaten to crumble us.

We need a new foundation.  So, for the year 2009, Sierra Pines is going to dredge through the mists of time back to an era when haste and distraction didn’t impede the mysterious search for the profound things of God. Four hundred forty-five years ago was a time when interruptions were less prevalent, perhaps, but life was more brutal.  It drove men’s hearts not to confidence in their own strength or resource, but to the only sure hope they could secure; God.