1. If you are a follower of Jesus and you are in him and he is in you, then you have a King and Kingdom. A Kingdom that cannot be shaken. It will not end. There is no election, no politician, and no governmental machinations that can touch you. Not even 2020 can harm you. No virus. For you have already died and your life is hid with God in Christ. These are not words to merely make you feel better, they are the highest realities. In this hope we were saved. We hope for things we cannot see. What kind of person hopes for what they can see? Not us. We place all our hope in the unseen. And we wait for it with patience. Not like the politicos. Not like the activists that make demands. Not like the sloganeers. We wait with the peace that passes all understanding. Why? Because we are safe.
2. What a friend we have in Jesus. A real friend. For he is a real person. And he is near to us. Always. This is just some of the good news we have been asked to be confident of. This is more true than our bank accounts which we are tempted to place all our trust in. Or at least most of it.
3. I want a prayer life that if prayer were removed from my life, it would be a radically different life.
4. It is good to remember that some people had a worse year (than you are having) previous to this year because they lost a loved one during that year.
5. 23 years ago today, Rich Mullins went on ahead of us. He has no heir.
6. “Anger, like pain, is not bad in itself but you wouldn’t choose it if you’re smart.” – Dallas Willard
7. Over the past month, in my counseling and conversations, I have heard half a dozen men and women tell me they are looking for a smaller church. Not so much because they are frustrated with their church, but because when everything else was taken away, they realized what they needed was a community in which they were known and knew. This makes me thankful for our little church around the corner we moved to six months before all this hit.
8. Whenever someone’s death is announced and there is no cause of death given, I now immediately assume suicide and there are so many sad realities behind that assumption.
9. When you honor the Emperor (regardless of deservedness) by not speaking of him or her with contempt and insults, you show a confidence in the King that cannot be understood by those who whose mind is set on the flesh.
10. The American church which has been so adamant for so long about “witnessing” needs to now live and breathe and have its being with a joy and a hope and a love and a peace that is fixed regardless of who is elected. That will get people’s attention. What we need to testify to is that Jesus is not a consolation prize when things do not go as planned or desired.
Echoes and Stars 
#4- I lost my loved one, my husband of 41 1/2 years, during this “pandemic” year. But, honestly, God has sustained me and is drawing me under His wing and teaching me so much. It’s not easy, and I am sad, but I know the King and I have hope in Him.
More than once I’ve thought about you lately and prayed for you also.
9. reminds me that there are a lot of professing Christians across the entire political spectrum who studiously act as though Exodus 22:28 can never even possibly apply to good citizens of the United States
Or Ecclesiastes 10:20 for that matter! Nobody could write for Jacobin or Current Affairs or Salon or Alternet … or The Federalist or The American Conservative or National Review if they took Ecclesiastes 10:20 to heart. 🙂
This is the second time that verse has come up lately in my reading. And yep.
#5 – man, I was just thinking of his song “We are not as strong as we think we are”
“We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made
Forged in the fires of human passion
Choking on the fumes of selfish rage
And with these our hells and our heavens
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are”
The lyrics that helped me see myself and God’s grace…. Thank you to Rich Mullins.
That one and “Nothing Is Beyond You” are my two favorites.
Man, thanks for bringing Rich Mullins up. I saw a show with him and his band in April 1997 in Minnesota, and at the show the band was collecting food and other items for victims of the Red River flooding in northern MN and ND. I then remember the evening when a friend told me of his passing.
Yes, there has been no heir to his ministry. Not necessarily going down the road of “lets tear another one into the CCM industry”, but honestly…along with Nicole Nordeman and one or two other musicians out there,the VAST majority of CCM artists music doesn’t seem honest and deep. Just fluff to keep Becky happy between trips to Target and soccer practice.
RIch was on another level, and still is.
Thanks Matt!
Rich Mullins’ heir is unquestionably Andrew Peterson, and it saddens me that more people haven’t discovered him yet.
I’ve been listening to Peterson for a long time. Maybe. But I think Josh Garrels is closer to the mark.