Etched

Dear Faith Family,

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven, (Luke 10:20). 

Their names were etched into little individual plaques, like tiny trophies neatly tucked in behind a framed pane of glass.  Maybe fifty or seventy-five of them?  I didn’t know a single name.  Captivated, I read through them.  Each name and then a year.  A few of those years captured my attention – when I was a child just getting started, when I was a newlywed just beginning this journey called marriage, when Covid was about to become a household word. 

Theirs were more than letters and numbers on a memorial tag.  Each one was a person.  Each one was part of a family.  Each was a life that ended on the job working for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.  Curiosity captured my attention.  How old were they?  What kind of personality did each have?  How were their lives defined?  What happened?  Where are they now? 

It's January 1, 2025!  And here we are, now.  A new day.  A new month.  A new year, (Twenty-five years ago, the world came to a screeching halt on Y2K – ok that didn’t happen).  So, here we are. 

Now what?  Like, why in the world did God greet us with 2025?  How many years, to date, has God gifted to you?  How many more will He give you?  How will He show off His image through your personality this year?  What will define you in 2025?  Wonder what will happen in the next 364 days? 

It was a new day in Luke 10.  Jesus sent His disciples out two by two.  They were experiencing tremendous success in ministry apparently casting out demons (keep in mind that the opportunity for such victory required the presence of the enemy’s opposition).  Imagine the energy and the excitement as the disciples reassembled and recounted their stories! 

It was into the very heart of the celebration that Jesus said something quite peculiar.  He told His disciples not to rejoice in the whole dominance over the spirits.  Instead, rejoice that your names are written in heaven.  Wow!  So, that God knows us (by name) is a bigger deal than victory over the fallen angels?!  That God’s grace toward us, fallen sinners, is greater than the judgement of fallen angels?! 

Where’s your name written? 

Happy New Year,

Pastor Karl