I have always enjoyed cheesy sitcoms when they have created an episode out of some of their greatest moments and blended them all together in a flash-back or dream mode. So, in honour of this idea, I thought I would look back on 2009 through the window of 80 blogs and choose some of my favourite high-lights. Truly, I have learned from the process and there is a part of me that hopes that others may also have learned. Going back to the first blog of 2009 I find that I am still wrestling with the same issues but I have learned a greater measure of trust. I still cannot see how God will provide for my needs, but with eyes of faith I trust that He will.
This has been a year where I learned of the moral failure of a friend and fellow church planter and prayed to God that He would protect me from my own weaknesses and tendencies toward sin. It was also a year when I retold stories of answered prayer; partly for the sake of others but largely to remember the grace of Jesus in my own life. I read about Columba (or Colum Cille) the first missionary to Scotland and marvelled at the life and prayers of this leader. I thought long and hard about the relationship between my faith and my love of science. And I found strength in God through His creation at times when God’s message was being drowned out by the world. I also questioned why it is that God sometimes seems so distant. In all of this, I continue to recognize the great mystery of this life of following Jesus, studying the Bible, and living life in the 21st century.
As one blogs, it is hard to know who the audience might be. If you have read this blog even once or twice I thank you. Blogging is a public forum where the writer learns far more than the reader. As you read my blog, you are helping me to mature in my faith, my understanding of the world, and my craft as a writer. I look forward to 2010 and hope that you might read along with me in this new year and might even send me a comment or two. Thanks for reading along on this cheesy backward glance at 2009. May we all continue to hunger and thirst for righteousness.