2015 in Review
The year 2015 is in the books. As the Preacher wrote, There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven (Ecc. 3). This year has certainly seen its share of memorable and regrettable events.
A time to give birth and a time to die. Princess Charlotte was born as the fourth in line to the British throne. The Center for Medical Progress recorded videos that highlight Planned Parenthood’s profiting from baby parts.
A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal leaving over 9000 dead. The Gates Foundation reports dramatic progress worldwide in reducing childhood mortality and eliminating certain infectious diseases.
A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A church in Charleston, a military center in Chattanooga, Umpqua College in Oregon, a county office in San Bernardino, and locations in Paris all suffered mass shootings. Much weeping and mourning.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones. It appears the next U.S. President will be either a woman with much political talent, a businessman admidst his first campaign, or a senator in his first term. The stone-throwing has begun.
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. The Supreme Court held that states must license same-sex marriages. Chief Justice Roberts dissented that this “orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia…Just who do we think we are?”
A time to search and a time to give up as lost. In “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Leia sends her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku in search of Luke Skywalker. That adventure is breaking box office records.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together. PBS reports that the U.S. is at a low point in race relations. Recent claims of police abuse and the tactics of Black Lives Matter contribute to the poll results.
A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. The growth of ISIS is barbaric and their Christian pogram in the Middle East is genocidal. The civil war in Syria has given the world its greatest refugee crisis since WWII.
The Preacher adds that God has also made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart. With trust in God’s time, we embrace or overcome, build on or move on from 2015. The past, present, and future form the timeframe of our lives, and per Dickens, “I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” We receive eternity in Christ Jesus, and pray the Father’s Kingdom come, and His will be done.
