We are beginning a new year, a beginning we commonly believe contains the potential for many good things. We are using some of our Sundays this month to help us think about what we will do as a church family in 2023. However, I do not wish to prescribe a series of goals. Instead, I want to take a few weeks to consider Jesus’ parables that he used to offer insights into his kingdom and its expectations for those who claimed citizenship in it. I want us to explore what insights his parables provide to us that will guide us as we navigate the hopes, heartbreaks, successes, and failures we will encounter in the coming year. This lesson continues that series by examining Jesus’ parable of the tower builder in Luke 14:25-33.