The New Year

Well, I blinked. Then suddenly, 2006 was over. It seems that time is racing forward.

Every once in a while I pause in front of a mirror --- always a mistake --- and am shocked to see an old man looking back at me. My hair's gone, my beard is going gray, my eyes are cloudier, and my hearing isn't what it used to be. These days, the joke "If I'd known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself" has taken on new meaning.

But, I cannot help but feel gratified. It's been a good year. The kids and I were healthy. The bills got paid. The proverbial wolf is away from the door. I missed no meals. I never slept on the street. I had gas money and even saw a few movies I liked. I have no cause to complain.

GCA has prospered this past year. A few new families have been added to our midst. A few old friends returned. I even heard from a fellow in Michigan for the first time in 30 years. Now he calls and emails to tell me how much our ministry means to him. This year we heard from folk in Canada, Nigeria, South America, South Africa, India, and various cities in these United States. We made new friends and received abundant email from people who share a like, precious faith. It's been a good year.

So, as the clock ticks down the last minutes of the old year passing, I'm looking anxiously forward, anticipating what the Lord may do in the days ahead. I pray that we learn to be content, to be patient, to be kind, to esteem others as better than ourselves, to be ambassadors of Christ in a fallen world.

And I pray that we will look ever upward. With each day that passes, with each year that ticks off the calendar, we get closer to the eventual and inevitable return of Christ. And whether we are alive to be instantaneously changed, or we spring victoriously out of our graves to rise and meet Him in the air, our future is charging inexorably toward that blessed event.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil 1:21)

That is the ultimate win-win situation.

Enjoy the New Year.