January 1, 2021

All right, it is time. Time to put 2020 behind us forever! I have been waiting eagerly for this moment. If there was ever a year which we should leave in the dust and never look back, it would be the one we just left. There are enough bad memories to go around…and then some. All of us ought to be glad to see it fade away in the rearview mirror.

Question is, though, what is ahead of us? What will 2021 bring or look like? Are we ready for it or will it catch us unawares? Who knows? I sure do not and am not going to make any predictions, although some do in great detail. (Warning: foul language. Worth it, though, if you can get past that.)

One thing I am certain of, however, is that it will not be the time when we “revert” back to normal, a.k.a., pre-2020. We are not going back to the good old days of 2005, 1980, or 1954. Forget that. Those days are gone and will not be repeated. Looking back and wishing for a return to more halcyon, happier days is an exercise in futility. Instead, we have to face an uncertain, risky future about which we know nothing and can only make vague predictions about based on what we have and see around us at the present moment.

Scary thought, huh? You bet it is and many people are so terrified of the prospect that they are afraid to live and be free.

What is the worst that could happen?

• A Real Killer Plague which we have no defense against?
• Catastrophic earthquakes around the Pacific Rim, including the US west coast?
• A super-volcanic eruption from Yellowstone?
• Financial implosion and devastating depression?
• A hot war with China which might lead to nuclear weapons unleashed?
• An EMP bomb exploded over the continental US which destroys every transistor circuit in the country?
• Civil war in America?
• Martial law and totalitarian crackdowns on our freedom?
• Widespread famine and starvation of millions?
• Gulags? Concentration camps? Mass murder of disenfranchised individuals?
• Donald Trump retaining the President’s chair? Joe Biden taking it away from him?

All of these are possible, but none of them have the power in and of themselves to cause us to be afraid of the future. Our security is built on a promise of hope, not one of fear. As Christians, believers in the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary and His ongoing work in our world, we can trust in the belief that He has His hand on the steering wheel of history and is navigating us to a better place. The fact that we are in a storm does not (should not) diminish that hope. He can still calm the wind and the waves by simply speaking to them as He did over 2000 years ago. Sometimes He does, but even if not, we do not have to be afraid of our circumstances or what might arise out of them. Instead, our faith should grow as we progress from one situation to another, building, ever building, always building on the Solid Foundation, which is Jesus the Christ.

We are children of the Most High God, disciples of the Teacher, servants of the King. This is sure. This is confident. This is fear-destroying. We can live this way. We can…if we choose to.

As 2021 begins, let us make the decision to live fearlessly in the middle of our own personal storm. After all, as Christians, the worst thing that can happen to us is only what is allowed to happen to us. If He is the Master, then everything that happens to us is at His prerogative and His desire is that we live, survive, and thrive within His Kingdom–even if we die in the process and spend the rest of eternity in His presence.

If He is the Master, what have we got to lose except our fear?