A NEW DAWN
THE PASSENGER’S LOG Stardate 31 December 2021
And so it comes, a new day, a new dawn. But this new dawn is a bit different than most. When it comes, in just about 21 hours from this moment as I write, not only does a new day dawn but a new year. Two-thousand two-hundred and twenty-two years (give or take) since Christ stepped out of a tomb, just before dawn, in a quiet garden outside the city of Jerusalem. About thirty-six hours before that, Christ was being beaten and abused, tried in a mockery of a trial, and cursed by those He came to save. Yet, on that morning, when dawn broke, hope sprang forth eternal on all of mankind. Most would not see or understand it. Now, the dawn of a new year. Not much of it is really new except the last few numbers on the calendar. Everything else is pretty much the same.
For many, this New Year will be the first new without a loved one in it. In just a few days I will officiate at the funeral for a friend I have known for about fifty years. His promotion to glory came on Christmas Eve so his family will begin 2022 without Dad physically present. He isn’t dead. He’s more alive now than he was on earth but his body has died. The family celebrates his being in heaven. Though they will miss him and their new year will be different, they will continue to live, laugh, and love.
For ‘The Passenger’ this will begin a second year with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. My lung capacity has decreased and hovers just over 70 percent and we know Dr. N wants the Universities Hospital to review my information before we decide on whether to use a new drug designed to slow the progression of the disease. So some things this year will be new for The Passenger but thankfully, the Captain of this Starship never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His love is consistent and constant. That is a promise worth taking into the New Year when so many things in our world seem to be unsure, unstable, and uncertain. Dr. Luke wrote Jesus’ words. In Luke 17 is recorded Jesus admonition that offences will come. There will be trouble and attacks. He also said that there is woe to the person through whom such problems come. The point we should remember as we consider a New Year comes in Luke 18:1. Jesus told the multitudes around Him “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint…” We are not to give up. Many years ago, I came across a cartoon picture about not giving up. It is worth seeing again as we look toward 2022!
And finally, this amazing promise from scripture: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good in work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
From me, The Passenger, to all my crewmates and shipmates, particularly my First Mate, and all who take a minute to read The Voyage, may you have a blessed, prosperous, and happy New Year! May 2022 be better than any year you have lived so far and may it pale in comparison to the years you will live after it! When it is time next December to consider the new dawn of a new year, may all who are present remember with love and laughter those who have gone on and commit once again to never give up!
RossRiggs.com 