A new year is about to dawn. When I was a young husband/father, I remember talking with an insurance agent, and mention was made of the fact that I would be eligible for retirement or Social Security in the year 2007. At that time, “2007” was inconceivable to me. I had not thought of ever getting that old, or of the world lasting that long, or of our Lord delaying His return so far into the future. Many of my seminary classmates were discussing the possibility of not having children because of the upside down world into which their offspring would be born. Cities were burning, whole blocks at a time, due to race riots. The Vietnam war was raging; “free love” was the in thing on college campuses, along with smoking “pot” and doing other drugs, and the Cold War was not so cold, as the Cuban missile crisis attested.
But, as we face 2024, the world still rocks and reels, and the coming of Christ is still imminent; there are still wars and rumors of wars, and promiscuous sex has taken on a new and even uglier face in the 21st century, while drugs claim the lives of tens of thousands of our people every year. And those of us who were either not smart enough not to have children in the mid-60s, or too brave not to, or just blessed of God with them as a natural and joyous consequence of marriage, are now praying for our grandchildren—who face a world with an even more foreboding future than what my generation faced decades ago.
I am thankful for new beginnings. Jesus said that ultimately He would make all things new! That benchmark year of 2007, spoken of by the insurance salesman when I was 25 years old—the year that I would be old enough to “retire” and draw Social Security—has long since come and gone. That was the year that our precious 11 year-old grandson, David, was claimed by the icy clutches of death, along with some other beloved family members. Retirement for a pastor was, of course, not in the picture; but in 2019, I do believe God led me to step back from the senior pastorate to begin a new phase of ministry with Gospel Fellowship Association as an interim pastor. A couple years after my official last Sunday as senior pastor at Thompson Road Baptist Church, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, for which I am receiving systematic treatments; and by God’s grace, I have been able to preach a couple times a month, assist in our church ministry as opportunities arise, and write this biweekly blog, “You and God,” for almost four years now.
During these past years we have bid “farewell” to many of our family and friends, former colleagues in ministry, church members, and members of our family. As some have said, the prospect of heaven is becoming nearer and “sweeter” with the passing of each loved one, and we look forward with great expectation to, in God’s good timing, taking up residence in that city not made with hands, whose builder and maker is God. Our permanent citizenship is a matter of record, irrevocable. God, who cannot lie, guaranteed and promised it “before the world began.” (Titus 1:2)
So, as you stare with me into the face of 2024, maybe you will be heartened by these words: “Well, Lord, here’s this whole new year ahead, and I know that prospect doesn’t shake You; but for me it’s question marks all the way. Family, health, finances, world peace—You know what a crisis in any of them would do to me. And yet, I’ve been thinking, Lord, that looking at the New Year with question marks is really looking at You with them. Right? That’s not trusting. Forgive me, Lord. I have this request: Please, this year turn my question marks into periods—into certainties—settled convictions. Faith with finality. On second thought, what’s better, Lord, turn them into exclamation points! Into certainties with excitement! That’s it, Lord! The exclamation point will be the symbol of my year in place of the question mark! Fill my days with thrilling assurances! Victories! Miracles! Dynamic challenges! Battles won! Souls won! And glory to You whatever the crisis in family, health, finances, world peace! What a year this is going to be, Lord! With You in charge of the punctuation!” (Alegra McBirney, missionary and author)
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)
YOU and GOD 