Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. 
Philippians 3:12-13 ESV

With tomorrow night being New Year’s Eve, I was reminded of a summer evening back in 1969. That night, a group of us teenagers drove down to a bridge over the Housatonic River we called the “Silver Bridge.” Some of us were excited, while others were secretly afraid of the challenge before us of jumping off that bridge into the water below. That leap of faith had become the local rite of passage standing between the comfort of childhood and the adventure of adulthood (at least we so imagined!) As I stood peering into the dark water below, I knew that once my feet left the bridge deck, there would be no turning back.

When the Apostle Paul wrote the words of today’s verse, he also stood on the edge of a bridge. Though the dangers that awaited Paul while he awaited trial were far more dire than ours, he did not face them with fear. Though Paul knew that the path ahead of him was not going to be an easy walk through the park, he says that he was straining forward with all his might towards the goals God had given him. That word “Straining,” in the Greek means “Reaching out toward something.” Paul was standing at the edge of his own bridge, and he chose to take the plunge, while reaching out for what God had for him. At the edge of our New Year, we also have a choice to make. Either we can stand frozen in place wishing we had courage to jump, or we can take our own leap by faith. To plunge into the river of God’s purposes and plans for the year ahead, then our feet must leave the safety of the bridge deck. If we are to strain forward towards the goals that God has placed before us, then we must decide to let go of the past and things that we cannot hold onto, to take hold of the eternal prize that God has promised to give us through Jesus Christ our Lord!