Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

--Parallel verses:
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭6‬
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

When I think about 2024, it was a good year. Its goodness did not make it easy, though. It was a year of change and challenge for my family. Many of the things we knew and had planned on changed for us (or maybe were torn from us). 1) A job where I was making and would have made the highest income of pmy career evaporated before my eyes. 2) I started a new company. 3) We were without income for over seven months. 4) Personal challenges resulted from the above changes in work and income as well. 5) Recently I have been sick for over 2 weeks, and doubly sick (two different viruses) for one of those weeks. This sickness happened over Christmas, during our Christmas Day dinners for the police, and I had to stay home.

Now we have much to be thankful for: 1) My wife just started a new job and income will come in. 2) My new consulting business, Fortify Risk Management, is starting to take off. 3) God has opened up ministry doors in a number of avenues. 4) We have/are working through the personal challenges that were largely caused by this upheaval and are stronger because of God’s work in our hearts. 5) God provided many to step in and fill the gap for us for the Christmas Day dinners. He showed his great love for our law enforcement once again.

Many, during this time of the year, like to make resolutions. This year, I am “driving the stake in further” on the foundational elements of my relationship with God. New and exciting resolutions can be a flash in the pan. Being more deeply rooted in the truth will always result in a closer relationship to God and a better ability to stand in trials.

So I give you two of my favorite passages in the Bible, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.

In Proverbs, I find the overall key to knowing our purpose and direction in life. First, I must trust in God. This is not a whimsical belief or a fleeting fancy of trust. It is an active, all-out, “put all your money in” trust – that a life lived in absolute surrender to his leadership daily will result in incredibly good things for me.

Second, I am to cast aside my own understanding. There is no option here to blend my understanding with God’s understanding. It is only the truth found in his Word, and his directions and promptings found in a close prayer walk with him that I must value. I must always submit to his plan, his way, his path; no matter the hardship, pain or perils they seem to involve.

Third, I must not be wise in my own eyes. Instead, I must fear the Lord and shun evil. In a year of intense challenges with some hardships, it is easy to see who your effective friends are. The effective ones are there to support you, challenge at times, but mainly they come alongside and help carry the load. Less advice, more action. In contrast, some are wise in their own eyes giving lots of advice with little real help.

Finally, I pray that in 2025, with all of the spiritual growth through challenges in the battlefield of 2024, that God will allow me to become more and more effective in carrying others burdens and helping lighten their loads. I want to pray fervently and love more actively, like Paul in Philippians.

As I enter 2025, I want to keep in mind that God values me so highly as his child (he believes in my potential so much) that he has entered me into the elite spiritual leadership program called “Good Work Completion”. The good work that he started in me when I decided to follow Jesus 48 years ago is continuing to be perfected and completed in me. I just need to be a willing student, full of a heart to receive his love, truth, discipline, and encouragement.

Thank you, Lord, for 2024. It was such a good year of growth. If measured by the challenges I went through, you grew me more than most years, and so that means you value me highly as your child. Take this weak and in-process vessel and use me in the ways to best benefit your Kingdom. Call those around me into your saving grace. I love you, Lord Jesus!