The Fear and Pride of Vladimir Putin (Shared History, Broken Promises Pt. 1)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

As bombs burst, rifles blast, and fires blaze in Ukraine—a nation with a larger population than California—I find myself with a long list of questions and too few answers. Top among them is: What is motivating Vladimir Putin to invade another sovereign nation?

Fear

One of Putin’s primary motivators is fear. “In a pre-dawn TV address on 24 February, he declared Russia could not feel ‘safe, develop, and exist’ because of what he claimed was a constant threat from modern Ukraine.” Considering that Russia’s army alone is larger than the entire Ukrainian armed forces, this is a patently ridiculous claim. But fear drives irrationality.

Whether it be Brexit overseas or Trumpism here at home, fear of others brings out the worst in all of us. But love brings out the best. That is why love and fear cannot coexist. As the Apostle John said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). True love casts out fear, not other people. It doesn’t invade their homeland but invites them into our own.

Pride

Secondly, Putin is motivated by pride. “The Russian dictator has grown to see himself as not another middling, kleptocratic dictator, but as a figure of historic import, dedicated to restoring Russian greatness.” Here in the United States, we’ve seen the tremendous amount of damage attempting to make a nation “great again” can wreak. All too often, those who lift themselves up do so by pushing others down. They reduce greatness to a zero-sum game where in order to win, everyone else must lose. But that was never God’s intent for greatness.

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). We were made for greatness, but it can only be found by putting others first. Our selfish desires must give way to selfless ones. Our backs must bend to scrub other people’s feet, just like Jesus did (John 13:4-5). Only then will we lay hold of true greatness rather than egotistical self-aggrandizement.

Conclusion

Fear and pride lay close at hand for all of us. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a former prisoner of Russia’s Gulag once said, “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart.” The only thing that separates you and me from a tyrannical dictator is not culture, education, or power. It’s grace.

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’”

(James 4:6)

Blessed Singleness

By Ife J. Ibitayo

We all tend to neglect the benefits of the season of life we’re in. When I was completing my bachelor’s degree, the end of the rainbow was the beginning of my master’s degree. Then it became the beginning of my working career. Now it’s retirement. Similarly, most of us don’t appreciate the benefits of the relational season of life God has placed us in. Every single single person I know is pining after their wedding day. All married people are waiting for children. Then as soon as these little, nutty creatures are born, they want to be empty nesters and grandparents.

An intriguing article I read called “Is Anticipation Even Better Than the Real Thing?” said, “The pleasure derived from anticipating something enjoyable is often equal to or greater than the pleasure derived from the event itself. This is because we’re inventing and idealizing the future.”

 When we anticipate the future, we think our future wife will be the implacable Carol Brady, the perceptive Claire Huxtable, and the vivacious Vivian Banks all rolled into one. But when she loses her temper or burns the cookies (again) or zonks out at 9 o’ clock for the tenth day in a row, we suddenly realize our earth angel is all too human. Conversely, we minimize the benefits of our current season and magnify its drawbacks.

Time

One of the most important benefits of singleness is time, which meaningful relationships tend to gobble up. It takes time to call my friends each week and drive to my cousin’s each month and fly home to my family each year.  I perpetually find myself in need of more time, not less. The extra free time I have allows me to take long prayer walks in my neighborhood. It has encouraged me to open my home to young adults on Thursday nights and serve in a variety of capacities at my church. And it has given me a chance to plug away at my many writing projects: including this blog you’re reading right now.

Flexibility

Secondly, singleness grants me flexibility that married people don’t have. I once called up a friend of mine who’d checked into an alcohol recovery program in southern Virginia. I offered to drive down to see him that same night, and though he turned me down, I realized later that these are the kinds of offers only singles can make (in good conscience).

Conclusion

Someone once said, “singleness is the gift everyone’s looking to regift.” I admit, I wrestle with this idea daily. Almost by the hour I find myself silently praying for God to send me my special someone. But I’ve slowly come to appreciate the unique privileges of singleness. We regret the opportunities that we let pass us by. So I’m trying to wring out every drop of this blessed season of my life until the next one comes.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

(1 Timothy 6:6)

Standing Above the Lovelorn Sea

By Ife J. Ibitayo

If winter is the season I hate the most, February is its worst month. January at least has New Year’s Day, and I still bask in warm reminiscence of March’s spring break. But the month of February has no holidays, well any worth celebrating when you’re single.

Fresh flowers, cuddly bears, and red hearts assail me at grocery stores. Affectionate couples shame me at dine-in restaurants and movie theatres. Twenty-eight days mock me with a singular reminder: “You’re all alone, buddy.”

This pain is especially personal to me because I was ready to be married by the time I turned fifteen. Yep, by then I’d already hung up my cap, kissed my bachelor glory days goodbye, and poised my pen to write a new chapter in my story. Fast forward a decade later and that page has remained (astonishingly) blank. Being a romantic at heart, I embraced several of our culture’s fallacies about love.

You’re Nobody Until Somebody Loves You

The first lie I believe was best sung by the venerable Dean Martin: “You’re nobody ‘til somebody loves you.” I wanted to be somebody! I took growing up in a loving family for granted. My parents and my brothers have to love me. I wanted someone who didn’t have to have me in their life, but of all the men on the face of this planet, they chose me alone forever.

You’re Half a Person Until You Meet Your Other Half

The second lie I accepted was that you’re incomplete until you meet your other half. I felt this “truth” viscerally, like a hole in my soul that could only be filled by the right woman. She’d alleviate my insecurities, heal my scars, and secure my destiny. Therapist Esther Perel said it well, “We come to one person, and we are asking them to give us what an entire village used to provide. Give me belonging, give me identity, give me continuity, but give me transcendence and mystery and all in one.” In short, she’d be my salvation.

Your Somebody/Your Other Half

As outsized as this expectation may sound, I actually don’t think it’s wrong. It just took me the better part of a decade to realize that it was misplaced. Appropriating a well-known quote from C.S. Lewis, “If we find ourselves with a desire that no being in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another being.” And that being is the one who made us: God.

Through the overwhelming pain and triumphant victories I’ve experienced in life, I’ve learned that God is my best friend, my confidant, and my lover. Someone did choose me alone forever for a loving relationship. Ephesians 1:4 says, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.” And my relationship with Him has given me belonging, identity, and continuity. For 1 John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” God is my transcendence and my mystery all in one!

Conclusion

My relationship with God has not weakened my desire to find my soulmate. Rather, it has provided a safe harbor to continue looking from. Until I find her, I know I stand high above the lovelorn seas. I rest in the arms of my heavenly Father until He sweeps me up in the triune bliss of romantic love.  

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

(Jeremiah 31:3)

In Defense of Winter

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I hate winter. January and February are some of the hardest months of the year for me. The holidays have passed, and summer is too far away as the icy winter chill freezes my body into a corpsicle.

I never understood the profound mental impact of seasons until I moved north. I’ve always lived in warm places—California, Florida, Texas—so winter was always just a welcome reprieve from the sun’s incessant heat. Summer never really ended. It just retreated for a few months to regather its strength.

But here in Virginia, winter signals death. All animal life dies or burrows deep. And trees deform into ugly scarecrows, pointing leafless stubs into the heavens as if to accuse God, “You did this to me!”

A couple years ago, when I first experienced winter here in Virginia, I found myself asking God, “Why did you create this horrendous season? Why can’t we just skip from fall to spring?” Since then, He has ministered to me a couple valuable truths about winter.

Winter Prepares Our Bodies

One of the first articles I read about the benefit of winter said, “Many plants need shorter days and lower temperatures to become dormant. This way, plants can store up energy for new growth. If a fruit tree doesn’t have enough chilling time, it will produce fewer, weaker buds.”

Similarly, in the intervening months between the holiday season and spring, we just can’t do as much outside, and we interact less with others. This extra time is not wasted, but much like the fruit tree, gives us time to grow deep roots and prepare for the spring of rapid growth. If you’re like me, a born workaholic, work is the given, and rest is a rarity. I often don’t slow down until I’m forced to by exhaustion, sickness, external circumstances, or all of the above. Winter is one of those circumstances. It forces me to slow down now so that I can speed up when the appointed time arrives later.

Winter Prepares Our Eyes

Secondly, you can’t truly appreciate spring without winter. An Indian friend of mine once joked that India has three seasons: hot, hotter, and hottest. And this statement resonated deeply in my sunbaked Texan bones.

But here in Virginia, everything dies in winter: insects, trees, joggers (at least that’s what I assume happens to them). Beauty vanishes for months, replaced by monotonous sheets of grey and white. But when spring arrives, my attention is always arrested by the riot of revived life. Songbirds wake me up in the morning as they sing from newly formed nests on sprouting redbuds. The sun sinks just a little later, allowing me to be awed by dazzling purple and red sunsets. Only the cold dark of winter prepared my eyes to appreciate the bright daybreak of spring.

Conclusion

I am convinced that winter will always be my least favorite season. But its also had the most profound impact on my life. The cold months of suffering I’ve braved, both literally and existentially, have dramatically shaped the man I now am. Any seed of resilience, courage, patience, and longsuffering that’s flowered in my life today was planted in the cold, hard soil of winter. So even if I never come to cherish that season, I will always defend it.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Humanity Was Made for Community

By Ife J. Ibitayo

This pandemic has been a harsh teacher for us all. I’ve seen just how fragile my normal life can be: Parties, holidays, and vacations can be disrupted in an instant. Dreams can been delayed for months and even years. And relationships can dissolve overnight.

There are so many people who I considered friends before the pandemic who aren’t my friends anymore. I haven’t pushed them away; I just haven’t pulled them close. And the tidal waves of time and space have caused us to drift apart. But just like fish were made for the sea and birds for the sky, humanity was made for community. But why do people need people? Why is community not a luxury but a necessity?

Community is Necessary for Conviction

Firstly, community is necessary for conviction. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” I love the author’s word choice of “paroxysmon”, here translated “provoke.” That Greek word means, “A provocation which literally cuts someone so they ‘must’ respond.” Love and good works are not my natural go-tos. Pizza and Netflix are more like it. But when I hear about my small group helping someone move or serving at a food pantry or setting up for a church event, I am “provoked” into action.

 Conversely, selfishness and evil deeds flourish in isolation. Proverbs 18:1 says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment.” I know that whenever I used to look at pornography, I didn’t go to the nearest library or visit my closest friend and open up my laptop. Rather, I entered my apartment, made sure no one else was home, turned off the lights, and only then typed in that address. But the Apostle John said, “If we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “Walking in the light” necessarily entails being open and honest about our sins with friends we trust.

Community Is Necessary for Healing

Which leads me to my second point, community is necessary for healing. There is something special about the gathering of believers that brings the power of Jesus near. Jesus Himself said, “Where two or more are gathered together in My name, there I am with them (Matthew 18:20).” Only the power of Jesus can heal broken bones, mends broken hearts, and reunites broken families. And that power is only fully realized in community.

Even Jesus Himself relied on community to bring about the full measure of His miracle working power. After Jesus raised His close friend Lazarus from the dead, “The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’” (John 11:44). After having raised this man from the dead, surely Jesus Himself could have unwrapped some meager linen strips. But even He believed that there was an essential aspect to having His community join in restoring Lazarus to full health. And this truth applies to us all. Even if God singlehandedly begins a great work in our lives, there is still a role our community will also play in freeing us from our former bondage.

Community is Necessary for Mission

Lastly, community is necessary for our mission here on this earth. Some of Jesus’ last words to His disciples before He died on the cross were, “‘A new command I give you: Love one another…By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34,35). It’s hard to love Jesus’ brothers and sisters without being around them. But when we make that effort, forming meaningful friendships with others, people’s hearts will be softened to the gospel message. Our greatest witness to the truth of Christianity is the quality of our deepest relationships. And the greatest gift we can give ourselves this new year is the blessing of community.

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”

(Psalm 133:1)

The Preceding Promise (The Genesis Archives Pt. 4)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

For Part 1, “Let There Be Light”, click here. For Part 2, “Recycling and the Image of God”, click here. For Part 3, “Naked and Unashamed”, click here.

“‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel’” (Genesis 3:15).

I hate making mistakes. You may want to roll your eyes sardonically and say, “Don’t we all?” But hear me out. There’s a difference between striving for perfection and needing it to feel at peace with oneself, others, and God Himself. I often struggle with the latter. A bad day on the job can haunt me for weeks, a bad conversation for months. I still vividly remember the mistakes of my youth, from careless comments to squandered gospel opportunities. I’ve piled them up over the decades, lugging them along in a spiritual trash bag as if they were my cross to carry. That is why this passage from the very beginning of the Bible resonates so deeply in my bones.

The Curse

The greater context of Genesis 3:15 is that Adam and Eve have just eaten the forbidden fruit, and God is meting out the first punishment listed in Holy Scripture. But God does not begin His punishment with Adam or Eve but the Serpent who tricked them. He curses the Serpent, “‘Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14). Then God tells them all the promise listed in Genesis 3:15: “‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.’” Then the curses on Adam and Eve in childbirth and work come in verses 16 to 19. But notice that the promise precedes the curse.

The Promise

This truth lies at the heart of the gospel. The gospel is not the story of how God makes decent people into perfect saints. It’s the story of how he transforms cadavers into new creations. The Apostle Paul says in his epistle to the Ephesians, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins…But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:1,4-5) God’s response to us does not proceed from our sins. He didn’t wait to see if we’d be perfect then send Jesus to make up the difference. Rather, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes” (Ephesians 1:4).

Conclusion

Before you cheated on that final exam, God chose you. Before you divorced your wife, God chose you. Before you tried to commit suicide, God chose you to be holy and blameless in His sight.

As I spoke on in “Naked and Unashamed”, sin demands judgment, yet God still desires a relationship with us. And you can’t have a relationship with a dead person. So God sent His Son to die in our place. And through His death, by crushing the Serpent’s head and absorbing his fatal bite, He’s enabled us imperfect beings to be in right relationship with a perfect God.

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”

(Colossians 1:21-22)

Naked and Unashamed (The Genesis Archives Pt. 3)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

For Part 1, “Let There Be Light”, click here. For Part 2, “Recycling and the Image of God”, click here.

“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25).

Naked is not only a provocative word today, but it’s also a rare word. We live in a cover-up culture. Women cover up their faces with foundation, concealer, blush, and mascara. Men cover up their true personalities with brash jokes and crude humor. We all cover up our true selves with carefully crafted photos on Instagram and clips on TikTok. Why is one of the few universal truths of life the need to play make believe?

Naked Before Man

The Bible’s answer is sin. As soon as Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, “Their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3:7). Shame only exists when we have something to hide. And from that day on, we’ve been trying to hide from God and from each other.

Yet God hasn’t taken away our desire for intimacy. In many books I’ve read, men have poured out their hearts to their lovers. They know they must expose the skeletons in their closets to the eyes of their special someone. We want to know that our sweetheart can love our unloveliness because instinctively we all know that love can only thrive in exposure, with unclothed hearts and bodies, with the very real threat of rejection overcome by acceptance.

Naked Before God

We know this is true with those we love here on earth, but we act as if it’s not true with God. The author of the book of Hebrews said, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked before His eyes” (Hebrews 4:13). God possesses true x-ray vision. He sees every part of us, from our physical form to our invisible spirit. Yet I’m moved by His response to Adam and Eve after the Fall. Genesis 3 says that God went for His daily walk in the garden of Eden. Not seeing His friends, He asks them, “Where are you?” In reply, Adam says, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” But God said, “Who told you that you were naked” (Genesis 3:10-11)?

God is not playing dumb in this conversation. He is making a crucial point here. He’s saying, “I didn’t say you were naked, so who told you that you were?” He already knew of Adam and Eve’s nakedness when they exposed themselves to sin. But His first response was not condemnation but connection. When Adam and Eve hid from God, He drew near. When they eschewed contact, He initiated conversation because God still loves us, broken messes that we are, even when we mess up.

Conclusion

But there is still the matter of sin. Adam and Eve instinctively knew they had to hide from God after they sinned because sin must be paid for. But what recourse did Adam and Eve have to repay God?

This question will be answered in “The Genesis Archives Pt. 4.”

“As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.'”

(Romans 10:11)

Recycling and the Image of God (The Genesis Archives Pt. 2)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

For Part 1, “Let There Be Light”, click here.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26).

I never used to recycle. I saw it as a nuisance at best and a hassle at worst. I had more important tasks to complete than tediously separating out the cardboard boxes from the steady stream of trash I generate. But one day, I felt divinely convicted about my disregard for recycling. Yes, divinely convicted. Let me explain.

God’s Rule

It shouldn’t be very shocking that the God who created the world cares about it too. In the book of Job, God rhetorically asks, “‘Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives? Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and make the tender grass spring up…Who provides the raven’s food when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food’” (Job 38:26-27, 41)?

God is the ultimate gardener and zookeeper of the vivarium we call earth. He is in charge of the ecosystems we know and love on our planet. But He has graciously ceded a tremendous deal of control to us humans. He made us in His image, and one key aspect of that image is God’s dominion—His rule and reign.

Our Rule

When we hear the term “rule”, our minds often go to bad examples of rulership we’ve witnessed in our lives—bad parents, professors, or presidents. Or we may think of dictatorships like the Galactic Empire of Star Wars or the Third Reich. But the Hebrew word radah, much like its English counterpart “reign”, is a morally neutral term. It simply refers to power and authority one possesses over others. And this power and authority can be used to profit one’s subordinates or profiteer off of them.

As the rulers of earth, we’ve done a tremendous deal of profiteering. We’ve increased the rate of species extinction by a factor of dozens or even hundreds. We’ve decimated a third of the earth’s forests. And we’ve polluted nearly half of the rivers and lakes here in the United States. That barrage of facts only scratches the surface of the potentially irreparable damage we’ve done to our planet.

Conclusion

There are many who’ll read this article and roll their eyes, dismissing it as liberal, left-wing propaganda. But that’s exactly the problem, good stewardship of the world we’ve been given is everyone’s problem. It’s not a political topic but a heart issue. And this is why I began to recycle. I need to care as much about this planet as God does. And caring begins with the little things like conserving water, not wasting food, and even tossing my empty Coke can into the right trashcan.

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”
(Psalm 24:1)

Let There Be Light (The Genesis Archives Pt. 1)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

In the beginning, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light (Genesis 1:3).”

I often forget how easy things are for God. I work hard each day at my desk job. I work hard each night at my writing. I work hard at being a good employee, a good brother, and a good friend. Paraphrasing my father, who was telling me about the stressful early years of his career: “I claimed that my success all depended on God. But I worked as if my success all depended on me.”

Labor In Vain

Fittingly, the first sermon I heard this year was on Psalm 127. Its first couple of verses say, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to His beloved sleep.” Success is not a product of our faithfulness but God’s. God doesn’t “help those who help themselves.” Rather, He saves those who know they can’t save themselves.

Jars of Clay

In the New Testament, Paul writes, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7). There’s a reason we have to sleep for eight hours a day and take a day off each week and some weeks off each year. Our tiredness is not a bug in our programming but an important feature of our being.

If we truly believe that God has the power to speak light into existence, we should know that He can singlehandedly speak light into our careers, our marriages, and our children’s lives. We’re called to cast our burdens on Him (1 Peter 5:7) and take His yoke upon ourselves (Matthew 11:29) because our burdens are heavy, but His yoke is light (Matthew 11:30).

Conclusion

I think that I’ll always work hard.  The seeds of that spirit are rooted in my immigrant roots and my upbringing. They echo through the pages of the Bible from wrestling Jacob to struggling Paul. And I hope that everyone who’s spent their days lounging through life can embrace a bit of that can-do spirit. But I think that the best lesson for me to learn in 2022 is not how to work harder but how to rest more.

“‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’”

(Matthew 11:28-30)

A Tale of Two Years

By Ife. J. Ibitayo

I’ve been replaying the highlights of 2021 in my head a lot. Like a CD on repeat, I first think:

2021 was a terrible year. It started with horrific loneliness. For months I didn’t see any of my friends or family members. I would often call up my mom because “I just needed to talk.” Then followed the most stressful months of work I’ve ever had on the job. I shouldered a workload that would have been reserved for a whole team if I were working at a larger company. Then spring gave way to a summer of crushing rejection. I was rejected romantically and disappointed professionally. Then my year wrapped up with someone in my family being diagnosed with cancer and an SUV nearly running me over.

Another Year

But then I hit the pause button and flip over to the B-side of my memories, and I start the recording over again:

2021 was a tremendous year! It was a year of firsts: my first publication, my first date, and my first raise. From when I got vaccinated in last April, the world popped with technicolor and neon light. I was finally able to return to church, eating out, and hanging out. It was a year of healing. The high blood pressure I was diagnosed with in late 2020 vanished by early 2021 for no apparent reason. The anxiety and stress I’ve struggled with for the past several years dissipated as the LORD filled me with His peace. A family member of mine recovered miraculously from an invasive surgery. And God protected me from a speeding SUV that decided it liked the sidewalk better than the highway!

Which version of 2021 is reality? Was it a terrible year with glimpses of the tremendous or a tremendous year with flashes of the terrible?

Conclusion

CNN’s 2021 “Year in Pictures” captures a glimpse of the global lows and highs of these past twelve months. 2021 was the year of Delta and Omicron, capitol rioting, and the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, but it was also the year of record high vaccinations, the completion of the 2020 Summer Olympics, and the conviction of Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers. It was a year of tears for everyone, both of sorrow and of joy.

When I look back on 2021, I don’t think I’ll ever recollect it fondly. Yet I know it was profoundly important. I’ve seen myself from new vantage points that I didn’t have the perspective for last year. These trials have exercised my soul in ways my pleasant childhood never could have. And I’ve seen a similar pattern among my friends and family members as well.

New leaders have stepped up in church and the community. A complacent generation has been roused to its feet by being forced to its knees. And an unrelenting virus has breathed new life into spiritual realities by taking our breath away.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

(Romans 8:28-29)