I just saw a couple of clips from Charlie Kirk’s memorial. The one of his widow forgiving the assassin is heart-wrenching to watch. But she expresses the Lord’s mercy and love graciously in her powerful message.

The God of all mercies is calling all people to turn their hearts back to Him. His arms are open and He is eager to forgive, to cleanse, to heal, to receive peoples from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation back to Himself before these present things all come to an end. 

The other notable clip I saw was of the Secretary of State of the United States speaking at the memorial. Did you see this? At the very end, he shared powerfully the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus. I think they said the memorial was streamed by over 100 million devices on the Turning Point account. The clip I saw had over 400 thousand views in ~20 hours. I marveled at the grace of God as I glanced at the organization that posted this clip: Times of India (news organization) with 5.61 million subscribers. The Lord will get the good news out. God loves You. Turn to God. 

“Thank you God for giving us Jesus to take all our sins away. I repent of my sins. I accept Your forgiveness, and I receive Jesus Christ as my life, my Lord, and my Savior now. In Jesus’ name.” 

Tsunami is not a bad thing if followed by “of prayer,” or “of love,” or “of blessings.” As I write this, the anniversary of the moment of impact of the tsunami in Japan has already occurred. That tsunami was “of devastation” to the people of Japan. 2011 seems like such a long time ago and when I recently visited Japan, there weren’t any obvious reminders of it in the major cities, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kanazawa. I wasn’t in the provinces hardest hit, but life seems to just go on.

The locals all seem to have somewhere to go and something to do. The people we met were all kind and friendly. But if conversation was permitted, life seems challenging for them. Everyone works a lot of hours. I think that is true in the post-Covid world. Here in the US, the scene of empty freeways in 2020 is a distant memory. And yet, so many twenty-somethings I meet daily are struggling for stable work, college-graduates included, and feeling very uncertain as they attempt to chart their course in life. I’m on the other end of work-life, but still looking for leading for my own “exit strategy.”

If this is all there is, eat, sleep, work, and one day die, it’s no wonder antidepressant prescriptions are at record highs. And though the Christian walk is not “easy” by most measures, Christ told us that if we wish to follow Him, we need to deny ourselves, pick up our own cross and follow Him wherever He takes us. He has many followers. Why? Isn’t the grind of daily life enough trouble that we should want to add to that self-denial and further uncertainty in our future when we let God who is unseen chart our course?

And why would I hope that for my fellow mankind, especially among the Japanese. They seem to have bounced back from 3-11 better than most nations would, enough to host the Olympics. They seem better off than most nations on a many metrics. However, at the end of the day, I believe we all seek meaning. And perhaps we are most miserable when we consider what we do has zero impact on the world around us and we don’t seem to matter. We may think all our striving is for a paycheck and comfortable living, but in our depth, we yearn for meaning.

And with every cell in my body, I have come to realize that all our seeking for meaning will take us to Jesus Christ. Because as I follow the Lord and pick up my cross, I find that it’s not as heavy as I thought it to be. And I experience in following Christ some grace and joy to take direction and courses that I might not have chosen for myself but in retrospect. makes sense.

And sense we are created with the capacity to have meaning regardless of our nationality, status, or education, in Christ Jesus. I am not a Westerner. I was born in Asia. When I gather together as Christ’s church with others near me, we are all from different backgrounds, some were born in Africa, others in the US, some in Mexico, many in Asia, but we share life together.

The life of Christ in me resonates with the life of Christ in my brother or sister in Christ. We may be so different outwardly, but there is love and care that exceeds all our differences. It’s a matter of shared life and not merely a shared belief system. So, why should the Japanese people be largely missing from this family of God? God has a place for each of us, for all of us. Someone shared the good news of God’s plan to include me, and as a result. I put my trust in Jesus and entered into this great big family of God. When I came to trust in Jesus, at the same time, I saw my own need for a Savior. I didn’t think I was bad at all and needed a Savior, but when I realized this, unexpectedly, before I could feel depressed about my situation, the love of God reached me to show me how Jesus made a way for me when He died on the cross for me — and for you. He is reaching out to you — in love.

If your heart is stirred within, that is not an accident. Pray with me,

“Lord God, I never saw I needed a Savior until now. I didn’t realize my sinful thoughts and actions were even directly against You. I believe that Jesus died for me and so I could be forgiven and have His eternal life. I thank You for hearing my prayer. Thank You for coming into my life. Help me to follow You all the days of my life. I want Your will for my life to be fulfilled completely. In Jesus’ name I pray.”

Want to know this life of Christ better?

God gave us the Bible. Ask God to make the Bible understandable and enjoyable as you open to God’s word. God gave us others who believe in Him and calls us to gather together. Join a Bible-believing church. Ask God to lead you. And everyday, as you realize that God is always with you, talk to Him and He will make Himself known to you, especially through the Bible. God cares for you. And hope and joy and peace that are Christ’s will fill your heart, too.

Spent the last few days of the year with the young people in our fellowship. We considered being Seekers of God’s heart and Orderliness, lawlessness, and the Suffering of Christ. It was awe-inspiring. God met me. I was blessed in so many ways and by so many.

During the discussion time, a question was raise by a junior higher about what happens to someone who never heard the gospel and others were riffing off that question. And I remembered an account I read regarding a man who died in an accident and his wife was so despondent because she had prayed for years that he would get saved and then he died suddenly, apparently never having been saved. She had turned away from God because she thought God didn’t answer her.

One response in me was, we can trust in God’s love and God’s merciful character. Look at how many chances He gives us, why do question His love for any human being since we were all created in God’s image. And we can never see glimpses of someone else’s life and make a judgement about their experiences. (That’s a lesson I am having to learn repeatedly) So, I will keep bringing people to the Lord in prayer. And when the Spirit prompts, Lord, help me be obedient like this young man and speak of God’s love for us. Found a version of this biographical account online.

The Hitchhiker

Roger Simms, hitchhiking his way home, would never forget the date—May 7. His heavy suitcase made Roger tired. He was anxious to take off his army uniform once and for all. Flashing the hitchhiking sigh to the oncoming car, he lost hope when he saw it was a black, sleek, new Cadillac. To his surprise the car stopped. The passenger door opened. He ran toward the car, tossed his suitcase in the back, and thanked the handsome, well-dressed man as he slid into the front seat. “Going home for keeps?” “Sure am,” Roger responded. “Well, you’re in luck if you’re going to Chicago.” “Not quite that far. Do you live in Chicago?” “I have a business there. My name is Hanover.” 

After talking about many things, Roger, a Christian, felt a compulsion to witness to this fiftyish, apparently successful businessman about Christ. But he kept putting it off, till he realized he was just thirty minutes from his home. It was now or never. So, Roger cleared his throat, “Mr. Hanover, I would like to talk to you about something very important.” He then proceeded to explain the way of salvation, ultimately asking Mr. Hanover if he would like to receive Christ as his Savior. To Roger’s astonishment the Cadillac pulled over to the side of the road. Roger thought he was going to be ejected from the car. But the businessman bowed his head and received Christ, then thanked Roger. “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.” 

Five years went by, Roger married, had a two-year-old boy, and a business of his own. Packing his suitcase for a business trip to Chicago, he found the small, white business card Hanover had given him five years before. In Chicago he looked up Hanover Enterprises. A receptionist told him it was impossible to see Mr. Hanover, but he could see Mrs. Hanover. A little confused as to what was going on, he was ushered into a lovely office and found himself facing a keen-eyed woman in her fifties. She extended her hand. “You knew my husband?” Roger told how her husband had given him a ride when hitchhiking home after the war. “Can you tell me when that was?” “It was May 7, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the army.” “Anything special about that day?” Roger hesitated. Should he mention giving his witness? Since he had come so far, he might as well take the plunge. “Mrs. Hanover, I explained the gospel. He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel. He gave his life to Christ that day.” Explosive sobs shook her body. Getting a grip on herself, she sobbed, “I had prayed for my husband’s salvation for years. I believed God would save him.” “And,” said Roger, “Where is your husband, Mrs. Hanover?” “He’s dead,” she wept, struggling with words. “He was in a car crash after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see—I thought God had not kept His promise.” Sobbing uncontrollably, she added, “I stopped living for God five years ago because I thought He had not kept His word!”

Original author unconfirmed.

Hebrews 1:2-3: in these last days has spoken to us in His Son whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He made the world and He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power…

Genesis 1:1-3: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

And so, this is how the Bible begins. God spoke and there is. And God began with light. And I have a particular interest in light. I have devoted my professional life to the study of how we humans interact with light and how to optimize our appreciation of all the light that surround us by caring for our precious eyes and the visual system.

How can speaking or words be associated with light? Well, actually, there is a language of light because every single color and even the light that we cannot see can be named universally. While green light may be described as verde in Spanish and vert in French, a specific shade of green can be universally noted as 570 nanometers across any people or language group. So, by stating 570 nm, I can convey to anyone in the world familiar with wavelengths the exact color shade without even showing them the color. There is a language to light. There is nothing random nor arbitrary to light. The rainbow created by water vapors acting like a prism will always display the colors separated by their respective wavelengths, from the shorter wavelengths to the longer wavelengths. Every time. When we detect light, it contains all the wavelengths in perfect harmony.

And our eyes are designed to detect the various wavelengths and enjoy the beauty of the world around us. And it is when something goes awry that we appreciate the wonder of our visual system. For the people with color deficiency, there is something anomalous about one or more of their cone photoreceptor types. It’s like they cannot detect the subtle difference between certain wavelengths. It’s like hearing the same sound for “b’s” and “p’s” and “v’s”. If we don’t detect the differences, that will make understanding anything spoken quite confusing. In fact, most people with color vision deficiency experience color confusion and not the absence of color though there is a very small number of people who lack the ability to detect any color at all. So, when the system is working optimally, we can enjoy all the subtly different shades of color, like the beautiful shades of green and yellow and red as the leaves change color in the fall. And that ability to detect subtle differences help us to identify, for instance, a blush, when a sincerely given compliment has been well received.

And light is essential for life to exist. Without light, there is no life. Recall photosynthesis from high school biology classes. The tiny blue green algae, single-cellular organisms, have the ability to generate power because they have the capacity to convert molecules in the air and the water that surrounds them into usable energy. These organisms at the bottom of the food chain are crucial for life here on earth for all the other organisms.

Photosynthesis is one aspect of biology that really got me excited about science. There is a language to biochemistry. Look at the periodic table. It’s like the alphabet of the language of chemistry. The chemical process that takes carbon dioxide and water (dihydrogen monoxide) molecules through a step by step process energized by light (photons) and converts them to simple sugars (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2) is also universally understood as chemistry is a language of its own.

Especially today, light is viewed as one of the most efficient source of renewable energy. That is not by accident. Scientists have sought to harness the energy of light for centuries. Examine a solar panel. Consider how much design (through countless scientists and teams of scientists working together throughout time) and processes are inputed to produce a solar panel that can convert the energy of the sun into usable power for consumption. That tiny single-celled blue green algae smaller than the period at the end of this sentence is intrinsically designed to generate energy from light more efficiently than a solar panel of any size. And the mechanism to carry out this energy conversion fits microscopically into a tiny cell. And no solar panel has ever been created with the ability to duplicate itself, but the tiny blue green algae does all this and can duplicate itself, over and over again. All on it’s own. What kind of design is this? Why should we deny the obvious and insist that this little living dynamo is the result of a cosmic accident?

Hmmmm.

So, God created light by the word of His power. Then God said, let there be light and there was light.

I’m a creationist.

I can see that some may consider this statement as “fighting words.” Actually, I am merely stating my understanding of how the universe came into being. I haven’t ceased to consider the evidence. You might wonder why after all my education I would take such a position. My education and training actually support my understanding and further my position. The more I learn from observations of the natural world, from the latest scientific discoveries, from the technological advances, the more convinced I am that God created the heavens and the earth by the power of His Word. Just as the Bible says so, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Will I state my case?

Yes. But there is no intention to argue a position, I want to present the evidence because I have come to understand that God created all of this for love’s sake. And what is at stake is ultimately not who wins an argument, but that we look upon our own lives and realize that in truth, there is purpose and meaning drawn in our existence. Even the suffering and what looks like mistakes in our lives have some higher purpose and redeeming value. We ourselves have a higher purpose and redeemable value. And we are loved. Greatly loved.

None of us are here, living, breathing, and contemplating by chance.

The day does seem like any other Sunday except I didn’t get much sleep last night (no, not from hard partying) so feels a bit dragging. But we had a very sweet Lord’s Table with a sincere appreciation of our Lord’s love and sacrifice and command. We also received a good word centering on everyone’s most relatable disciple, Peter.

So why are we still here in 2023? 23 years have passed following Y2K when we thought there was a distinct possibility that anything electronically driven was going kaput when the digits turned from 99 to 00. The IT industry cashed in on the fear of Y2K as programmers raced against time to fix the unknown problem. The entire scenario ended us being the ultimate nothing-burger. We did not need to fear the zeros.

But here we are 23 years later. Is there an appropriate word to describe or encapsulate what we anticipate for these next 365. Perhaps uncertainty is fitting to describe life now more so than in 1999. We are living in the days of the triple threat. The novel corona virus is miserably no longer a novelty and it’s various emerging iterations and sub-strains will likely become endemic. We are still taking our best guesses at which strain of the influenza virus will be the hit of this season. And infant and small children are catching the RSV at an alarming rate. It’s been around but we are hearing of it only now. It seems that there is this changing menu of hot infections akin to the soup du jour at the local diner.

Then besides the threat of infection, there is now the real possibility of a nuclear weapon being deployed as well as several volcanos erupting one after another along the Pacific ring of fire. Is an eruption in North America and/or a nuclear warhead launching inevitable sometime this year? So is the word of the year inevitable?

No. As for me, the word for 2023 will be promise.

Several years ago, Luann or Christine and company came up with this thing that we should choose a word for the upcoming year. We haven’t kept up this contemplation and Luann asked me yesterday if I had a word for this year. And promise arose in my heart.

What is your word? Write it in the comments below.