End of Year

At this time of the year, one is often moved to reflect. I must admit that much has occurred in the last twelve months. Some of it very unexpected. For example, this very blog has dried up with hardly anything added in recent months. Hopefully, the promise of a new year will refresh my efforts to get back to regular penmanship.

It has also been quite surprising that my congregation has experienced “positive decline.” I am not sure if that has been as a descriptor as has “back-door revival,” but our numbers have shrunk while our focus has sharpened and marked development and deepening in faith has been evidenced in various scenarios as they continue to unfold.

I have grown individually through an ongoing relationship with a fellow pastor in my community. The proverbial “iron sharpens iron” pun has proved true over and over in recent times. This very day, a meal was shared and Scripture reading and prayer both challenged and encouraged us. May this privilege of koinonia continue and bear much fruit.

Opportunities to see family have been welcomed especially just prior to Thanksgiving. Though I do not relish the travel, the time with our children is an immense reward. Hopefully in days ahead we can have a complete family reunion. That is not as “fearful” as it sounds. It would be our four sons plus one daughter in law gathered with old mom and dad. May it be so, Lord.

I have read several books this year. Probably the best of the lot was Abraham Booth, Reign of Grace. This work gets under your skin at times, even as it refreshes your soul on almost every page. A former Arminian, like Augustus M. Toplady, Booth never looks back once the Lord gave him eyes to see the doctrines of grace so pristinely for the first time. This book ranks high on my personal favorites list. It is close to The Sovereignty of God by Pink. Do yourself a favor and pick one up from Christian Book Distributors; they are on sale at a high discount.

I long to accomplish in the upcoming year what Richard of Chichester once prayed:

to know Thee more clearly

to love Thee more dearly

& to follow Thee more nearly.

All for the Glory of the Triune God: Spirit, Son, and. Father.