Lamentations 3:22-24 (Common English Bible)

"Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.’’

Have you ever wished you had a time machine? Sometimes when we say the wrong thing or make a not-so-wise choice, we wish we could go back in time to the point just before our big blunder and make a different choice.

Recently, we were watching a movie in which the main character was able to push a button and go back in time by a minute or two, just long enough to rectify a mistake and make things right.

Actually, I have seen this theme played out in many movies over the years, so much so that I think it must be a common desire of most of us. As a wise man once said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

I’m sure this has been a common theme in all of human history. We all make mistakes, and we all wish that we could go back in time and rectify those mistakes.

Well, I have good news for you.

Now, before people start pounding on my door and wanting to see my time machine, let me just say that I don’t have one. What I do have, however, is assurance that we have another chance to get it right.

The prophet Jeremiah suffered with the same human illness that all of us do – saying or doing the wrong thing, or even saying the right thing and being misunderstood by people.

Regardless of how many bad decisions we have made, regardless of how many blunders haunt us, the prophet reminds us that God’s mercy is far greater than our worst mistake or bad choice.

Great is the faithfulness of God, so great that God’s mercy is new every morning.

In other words, each day, we get another chance to get it right - to straighten out our lives, to stop making bad choices, to ask for God’s direction, to do the right things by making good choices. God’s faithful love has not ended, and indeed will never end.

God loves us more than we can possibly imagine, and Jesus came to demonstrate to what extent God would go to show us such endless love – to the point of dying on the cross for our mistakes, blunders and bad decisions.

So regardless of what we have done – no matter how bad – God is never willing to give up on us. God’s love for us is endless. So it’s never too late to make a fresh start.

Want to learn more? At Revive @ 5, during August, we will be talking about "A Fresh Start". Revive @ 5 is a non-traditional service where we dress casually and get real about learning about God’s love for us. All are welcome.

Revive @ 5 is held on Sunday afternoons at 5 in The Wesley Chapel of Covington First UMC, the small red brick church between Monticello and Church streets.

All of us need a fresh start every day.

Rev. Jan McCoy is the associate pastor of Covington First United Methodist Church in downtown Covington. She may be reached at jan.mccoy@ngumc.net.