By Kelly Carr 

Does today feel any different to you? Can you sense that we are living on a whole new calendar now? I have to stop and think for a moment when I begin to write the date.

Here at The Lookout, we’ve been thinking about 2015 for a while. Some things have to be planned months in advance, such as what topics we are going to cover each week and who is going to write about those topics. We were also working ahead to have a new look for our magazine in 2015.

Perhaps you’ve been anticipating the newness of 2015 also. At work you may be striving for a promotion this year or counting down the days until you retire. Maybe this year you have planned a special vacation. Perhaps this year you have a new Bible study to attend or a new role at church in which you are volunteering.

New Habits

For some folks, a new year inspires new Bible reading habits. With that in mind, we’ve included articles this week to offer:

• ways to mine deeper into God’s Word

• 101 tips to revitalize your study of Scripture

• a challenge to commit portions of the Bible to memory

Every week in The Lookout we offer tools to help you remain in God’s Word:

• This might be the year you want to read the whole Bible. If so, you can use our 2015 Bible reading plan. David Faust discusses parts of the reading plan weekly in his column, Revealed and Relevant.

• Or you may study the Scripture texts from the International Sunday School Lesson. Sam Stone offers commentary on those texts, and The Lesson and Life devotions as well as Where You Live small group questions go along with the same Scriptures.

New Plans

We know life never fully works out as we plan. It storms when we were hoping for sunshine. We get sick at an inopportune time. Everything from minor inconveniences to major tragedies can throw off our day’s hopes.

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

Yet God doesn’t change. Each new year, each new day, whether we’ve kept our plans or not, he is steadily present, with us every step of the way. I hope that fact gives you strength for this year’s journey.

May your 2015 be filled with a greater sense of how God is moving in your life, in your community, and around the world. May you discover new insights from the Bible and from the Holy Spirit’s guidance. May you find new ways to share the hope of Jesus with others.