For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond. If I turned the pot so the flower was facing the room, within a day or two it would have turned to face the light. And if I rotated it again, the flower would respond in the same way, turning itself toward the light streaming in from the window. I could not fool it. I could not discourage it or persuade it to give up.
You cannot read about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ without noticing his love for the natural world. Many of his most vivid illustrations are drawn from nature—the birds, the plants, the trees, the winds. You often observe him making use of the natural elements that were right before him to help his listeners understand his teaching—the fig tree that failed to bear fruit, the fields that were white for harvest, the birds that were unconcerned about their next meal.
And in that vein, I learned a lesson from that little flower—the lesson of the potted plant. No matter how I turned the plant, it dutifully responded by realigning itself to face the light. No matter how many times I turned it and no matter how completely I turned it, it responded in the same way.
From the plant, I learned that life’s circumstances often turn us into times of darkness, times when we are overcome by pain, sorrow, or other trials. For a time the world around us may look dark and foreboding, like the Valley of the Shadow of Death is closing in around us and threatening to swallow us up. Yet our duty in such times is to look for the light and to turn toward it.
God never leaves us without some truth to believe in, some promise to cling to, some hope to long for, some light to turn toward.Share
And there always will be a source of light, for our God never deserts or abandons us. He never leaves us without some truth to believe in, some promise to cling to, some hope to long for, some light to turn toward. For God does not just have light or display light—he is light.
I’m certain that if I had taken my little potted plant to a dimly lit room in a hospital, it would still have turned toward whatever light came from the window, no matter how dim the source. I’m certain that if I took it to a prison cell with nothing but a single little window high above, it would lift its face toward that one shaft of light. It could not be stopped. It could not be discouraged. It could not be dissuaded.
And neither should we ever be dissuaded from turning toward the Lord in every circumstance. Our eyes may be weary and full of tears, the light may seem distant and dim, but the Lord is present, close to the broken-hearted and eager to save those who are crushed in spirit. It falls to us to simply turn and to look toward the light that streams from his presence and illumines us with his grace.

I am so glad that the holiday season is finally upon us. And as much as I enjoy all the feasts and festivities, what I’m most looking forward to is days of rest and times with family. We anticipate that the next couple of weeks will be fairly low-key, and that’s okay by us.
2023 has been a unique year for me as I completed the great majority of the travel for Worship Round the World. I visited 25 countries, worshipped with a local church in 13 of them, spent time with Christians in a further 7, and recorded hundreds of hours of video. My travel app tells me I flew about 160,000 miles and spent just over 14 days in the air. My body tells me I may have overdone it a little. But I can’t even begin to describe what a blessing it was to meet so many wonderful people and worship with so many beautiful churches. The book and documentary are now both well underway and I look forward to sharing it all with you in due time.
Next year should be significantly quieter, though I do intend to do a little more speaking at conferences. I’ll be at events in Calgary, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Dallas, among others. I’ll also be speaking briefly in Brazil and Albania, and making a two-week trip through Italy, Austria, and Romania. Okay, so maybe next year won’t be that much quieter. Either way, I’d love to meet you at one of those events!
But for most of 2024, I’ll be focusing on the blog—on writing articles just as I’ve done for the past 20+ years. Blogging is still what I love the best.
As for the family:
Michaela is home for the holidays and it is a delight to have her around again. While Aileen and I enjoyed our first stretch of empty-nesting, there’s something to be said for having a little more life and activity in the home! Michaela is taking one course remotely during the break while also working whatever hours she can get from a nearby grocery store.
Nathan and Abby will be making their way up in early January to spend some time here. And, as importantly, they will be doing Nathan’s immigration paperwork (i.e. getting landed). They should both be graduating from Boyce College in May and plan to move this way shortly thereafter. Their first challenge will be to find a place to live in the crazy Toronto-area rental market. We are praying they find just the right work and living situations.
Ryn is living and working in Louisville. We don’t anticipate seeing her over the holidays, but will get some time with her when we visit Louisville in the spring and when we enjoy a family vacation together in the summer.
Aileen continues to work part-time as an administrative assistant for a neighbor who is in real estate. She also gives a lot of her time to overseeing the Early Years Ministry at our church, which includes the bustling nursery and preschool programs.
As we head into the holidays, I plan to maintain a slightly lighter-than-usual blogging schedule, but will still have something for you every day. In the meantime, may God bless and keep you and those who are dear to you through this season of celebration.

Grace and peace to you on this fine day.

(Yesterday on the blog If Just One Person Returned)
Why I Quit Praying for God to “Use Me”
Alex Early: “I became a Christian at the age of 15 and knew I was called into vocational ministry within 90 days. So, one prayer that I picked up on by leaders around me and started praying myself was this—’God, please use me in this world for your glory and our joy.’ It sounds right and even biblical. Yet, to be quite honest, I didn’t pray that prayer from a heart that was content with God.”
The Prayer Stump
I appreciate this one. “My husband chiseled out what he calls a prayer stump from the trunk of a fallen tree. Its back behind our house where he is hidden from human eyes. It’s an uncomfortable seat, an earthly throne of sorts, where he brings our children and grandchildren to a much higher and greater Throne.”
5 Reasons We Don’t Pray
“None of us feel as though we have ‘arrived’ when it comes to prayerful communion with our heavenly Father—but few of us do the searching work of pondering why that is. Honestly, if we give it some thought, it is rather obvious why prayer is hard and why we struggle to do it. Here are five of the most significant reasons why we don’t pray…” You will probably identify with some of these.
Silence is Not Violence
“What if the world needs fewer words, not more? What if silence is not violence and extra words are nothing more than virtue signaling?” This is well worth thinking about.
More: What God Wants for You
“Our dreams are fiddling and fickle. They’re also small, like gains of dusty sand on a vast shore. No offense. I’m not trying to belittle you (or myself, for that matter). You may have some ‘respectable’ dreams in the world’s eyes, maybe even some respectable dreams in the eyes of the church. But they’re probably not good enough. God probably wants more for you.”
A Pandemic of Disunity
Randy Alcorn has some valuable thoughts about unity through the pandemic. “Believers’ love toward each other is the greatest proof that we truly follow Jesus. If we fail to live in loving oneness, the world — or to bring it closer to home, our family, and friends — will have less reason to believe the gospel.”
Flashback: Do You Set an Example in Your Conduct?
All the time, in every way, in all of life, God challenges you to be an example of godliness to other Christians.

People treat God’s sovereignty as a matter of controversy, but in Scripture it is a matter of worship. —J.I. Packer