Welcome, New Year

It's a new year when the clock strikes midnight. The crystal ball will drop in Times Square. Hopeful ones will shoot fireworks into the air. Desperate ones will get drunk. Broken ones will make promises to Self. Busy ones will put up their new calendars and open their date books. Devoted ones will pray for God's will to unfold in the coming months. Old ones will wonder where the year went. Young ones will long for the next few months to pass so that Summertime can come. Coastal ones will look anxiously toward hurricane season 2006. A local hotel has on their sign: Welcome 2006. Good Riddance 2005. I cannot agree. It was a tough year, for sure. The toughest I've ever lived through. But I lived through it, with God's grace and His mercy. And somehow in all of my struggles, He has shined brighter and lovelier than I have ever seen. I do welcome a new year. New horizons are before us. We press on without looking backward. We know that wherever we step, God has already blazed the trail ahead of us. Friends, let us join together in welcoming a new year ... a time for the King to shine in all of His glory. First Light of a New Day There at the edge of the night Where the blackness of earth Is revealed In the first light Of a new day Hope arises along with the sun Months and Years and Hours Are made In the first light Of a new day No greater honor or privilege Awaits the one who recognizes The promise In the first light Of a new day --John Dobbs