As the calendar turns from December to January and as 2023 gives way to 2024, a new year is laid out before us. We may have already drawn a few lines and circles on some of the dates—appointments here, vacations there. We may have slotted in a few dreams and plans for certain days and weeks. But mostly the year lies open before us, opaque, mysterious, unknown. What will it be? What will it bring? How may Providence direct? What is certain is that 2024 will bring both joys and sorrows, both gains and losses. There will be good days and bad, joyful seasons and grievous. Some circumstances we will look forward to and some we will dread. That’s the nature of life here between Genesis chapter 3 and Revelation chapter 22—between sin’s entrance and abolition, between the first tears and the last. Today I find myself thinking especially about those hard days and difficult times. As 2023 drew to its close, I witnessed an unusual number of friends endure the most trying of circumstances. I had a close-up view of Christians passing through dark valleys. And, to my encouragement and joy, I was able to watch them pass through those trials unbroken and triumphant. Even with hurting hearts and crying eyes, they remained victorious, unwavering in their love for God and unswerving in their commitment to his cause. What is left when a Christian man is forced to bid farewell to the wife of his youth, when she comes to the last of her … Continue reading New Year, New Joys, New Sorrows