1. What a dark and cloudy year Twenty-seventeen has turned out to be! Truly, I speak with the French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, when he said, “Man’s sensitivity to small things and his insensitivity to the most important things, are surely evidences of a strange disorder.” As well he might call it a strange disorder! For throughout this year, the media has treated the world to very dark happenings, all bearing testimony that the heart of man is deceitful above all things; and is desperately wicked. It is as clear as the day is that we are all sinners, every one of us, and fall short of the glory of God.
2. I count myself very fortunate to live on the top of a hill overlooking the Taipei basin in Taiwan. Just when dreadful events, difficulties and disappointments appear to wring the soul with anguish, my spirit is suddenly lifted up from the depths of despair as if by magic, each time my eyes behold the spectacular panorama of the several mountains that encompass the City of Taipei. For in this grandeur I see the heavens telling the beauty of God, thus lifting up my heart far above all other considerations, charming me to think and thank.
3. How sweet it is to think of all the blessings which the Lord has wrought for me over the years; and, as you will see from a short video below, how sweet it is to think over all the Lord has done for me, how he continues to reveal himself; displaying his glory in the heavens, in the mountains, in the valleys, in the seas, and in the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How charming a thought it is that he has revealed himself to me personally, to see in him my Father, my friend, my helper and my God.
4. Treating Twenty-seventeen as one would an expensive oil painting, and if one were to run one’s eye along the whole length of the canvas, one sees a year distinguished by much pessimism; it has demonstrated in very vivid colours that there are forces so powerful, so pervasive, that it would be perfectly understandable if one were to give up all hope, and despair. I have given expression to this seeming hopelessness, in some of the blogposts published on this website, most notably, Parts 1 & 2 of “Bloody Independence – we wuz robbed!” and “Man is not the measure of truth, God is; and, a good man’s footprints cannot be erased.”
5. But Twenty-seventeen has also demonstrated very powerfully, as the recent downfall of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe testifies that you may chain a people, but you cannot conquer their spirit, though you enslave them. The combined effects of this simple truth, fills my heart with a hope that the day will come when anger and frustration will become so great, that guns, bullets, teargas, bombs, or even political scheming, will not be able to contain it. I write this with particular feeling for those poor souls in the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara, whose fortunes I have alluded to in the two- part ‘Bloody Independence – wuz robbed’ blogpost; that the day of their freedom will come upon them like a thief in the night, and a lot sooner than they dare to believe.
For more details, please visit: http://np.cpami.gov.tw/