A few days ago we all said goodbye to Carrie Fischer, perhaps the actress I most beloved in childhood. Prior to that were the deaths of Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, David Bowie, and the Great Barrier Reef. This combined with a grim election season, a increase in poliece shootings, and several crises on top of one another like the Flint water crisis, the Dakota Pipeline, and last but not least, the Syrian Cival War, have lead many to decry the year 2016 as the worst in history, and announce that they cannot wait for it’s end.

Which is why I feel a little guilty admitting it has been the best year of my life.

The year started for me, when I asked Tiffany’s parents for her hand. In Janurary, I took a whirlwind tour of Turkey following Paul’s Missionary Journy on scholarship. My last semester was incredibly challenging, and I rocked it! Preaching regularly, planning a wedding, and ultimatley graduating above my goal of a 3.5 GPA with a Master of Divinity Degree.

Then came the wedding, the honeymoon, and the begining of our lives together in a new apartment, with a new car, and a new dog “Obi Wan”.

As the news around us internationally we were working to build community and fight isolation in our home of San Marcos. And saw the development of a new gaming group, a weekly coffeehouse meetup, a pubnight, two biblestudies, ane three potluck events with our new neighbors.

Things look broght for 2017 as well, with new employment and ordination prospects, It looks like Tiffany and I will be able to write out own ticket.

All this, as usual, has beconed me to reflect. And to wonder why it is that I celebrate while so many suffer. Am I insulated from their suffering? And if so, is that a result of privlege or hard work? Is it all going to start paying off because I have built my house on the proverbial Rock, or did I just luck out?

So often in the past as I worried about the future I rolled my eyes at the suggestion that closeness to Christ and faithfullness to his call would result in some kind of emotional security and temporal blessing. Repeatedly throughout my life I have reflected that things were just below “fine” and religiosity was absoltutely not helping. Is this just another up that will lead to another down?

Only one way to find out!