In Memoriam

Here we sit at the end of another year. The final hours of "aught-six" are upon us. We have two vistas from the present vantage point. From one, we view the past 360-odd days we have just completed. From the other, the coming days of a new year. From the first, we see those things that have been indelibly etched into the pages of our personal histories. From the second, we see the clean and open slate of another year, stretching out before us like an open road. We do not know where we will be or what we will be doing by this time next year. We do not know what joys or sorrows await us. We stand at a road marker to an uncertain future, though we take each day for granted. Through the certainty of uncertainty, through the veil of days ahead, we as Christians have this blessed assurance: namely, we are in the hands of Almighty God. We are bought with the precious blood of Christ. We are called by His name. And our hope? It is simply this: that "Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed His own blood for my soul." It truly is "well with my soul. " Dear friends, it may be this very year that we hear the trumpet call, and our Lord and Savior will return for us! What joy is this? Who or what can dampen this anticipation? This may be the year!

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess 4:16-18)