Burned In Effigy!

One of the most unique and colorful New Year's traditions in Peru is to create effigies and then burn them at midnight on New Year's Eve.

The effigies are meant to symbolize people who have created bad memories or who have had a bad influence on you in the year that is ending, and so the burning of the effigies at midnight is supposed to end the bad memories or influences, so that they don't continue into the new year. The most common effigies burned in Peru on New Year's Eve are leading politicians, celebrities, bosses, and unpleasant relatives or in-laws.

The effigies are really no more than dummies made out of old clothing or rags, and usually stuffed with newspaper, kind of like the ones you'd make at Halloween. In some districts in Lima, literally every street is alive with fire at midnight on New Year's Eve, as the effigies burn for blocks and blocks, as far as the eyes can see.

This Peruvian New Year's Eve tradition certainly has secular roots, but we also can apply it to ministry. What are the bad memories or bad influences that hurt your international ministry in the year that just ended? Is it really going to help you in the new year to keep thinking or focusing on them? Probably not. Burn those bad memories and influences in effigy! Rid your mind of them, and focus instead on the good plans that God has for you in the new year.

Philippians 4:8 (NIV) - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) - "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"