Past Commentary by a Common Terry
Happy New Year!
December 28, 2025
Those three words will echo all over the world on Wednesday night at midnight. They will resonate among family and friends, between neighbors, and be exchanged by total strangers.
Happy New Year!
That little phrase is both optimistic and a little bit wistful. I mean, everybody wants things to get better and better. But, for some, it’s a subtle code that may say, “It’s gotta be better than last year!”
I’ve had lots of conversations through the years with folks who look back on a year and basically say, “Man, I’m glad to get this year behind me.” They’re saying things didn’t go so well.
Plans made were not plans fulfilled. The anticipated didn’t show up and the unexpected became the norm. “Whew! It was one of those years!”
Here’s the reality, though, for God’s people who trust Him in every situation and all moments. God’s plans do work out. The landing spot, the final destination and goal, is in God’s hands. The journey may be circuitous and burdensome. It may break our heart over and over and over, but God always gets us there.
Think about that teenage couple, more than two thousand years ago, excited about their engagement having been betrothed according to Jewish custom with their whole life ahead of them. I imagine they did what young people preparing to get married do. They talked about the future. They anticipated happiness. One of the topics? Probably something like, “How many kids should we have? Do we start right away, or do we wait a couple years?” They probably planned to start right away. For a Jewish girl growing into womanhood, she embraced the honor that came with having children. Some scholars believe the Jews were convicted that a family of seven sons was perfect. (This is supported, to a degree, in Ruth 4:15 and I Samuel 2:5.)
So, when Joseph and Mary chose to obey and become God’s humble servants, tasked with raising His Son, it wasn’t their plan. It wasn’t the journey they anticipated or wanted. But it was God’s will. It couldn’t have been easy facing the skepticism and ridicule of their neighbors in Nazareth. They had been there all their lives. The town was probably excited for them when their families announced their engagement. But then there occurred an unexplainable (by human standards) pregnancy and a story that would one day be wonderful. But such wonder did not exist among the tongue-waggers in town back then.
Because of the census mandated by Caesar, Joseph and Mary traveled the ninety or so miles to Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem. There, with anonymity, they could escape the prying eye and the raised eyebrow.
After Jesus was born, they stayed in Bethlehem. Was that the original plan? Probably not. Joseph and Mary would normally have stayed in their hometown of Nazareth. Instead, Bethlehem was where Jesus was born. Perhaps it was the chance to start fresh without the scandal and disrepute. The fact that Herod wanted every child killed that was up to two years old shows they stayed there. (Matthew 2:16) The fact that the Magi visited them at a house (Matthew 2:11) shows they established roots.
When the family returned from Egypt after Herod’s death (they had been away anywhere from one to four years), they didn’t go back to Nazareth. It is likely they returned to Bethlehem. Perhaps they already added to their family. We know Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters. But because of Herod’s brother, who was as evil as Herod was, they decided to return to Nazareth. (Matthew 2:22-23) That is exactly where God wanted them to be.
They didn’t have the wedding they hoped to have. They didn’t live where they planned to live. They had a child long before they intended to. They fled for their very lives to Egypt, of all places! Then they couldn’t live, for a second time, where they wanted to live. It is nearly certain that Joseph died before Jesus began his ministry. Mary watched sons two through five despise her firstborn, the one named Jesus.
Very little went right. Nothing went according to plan. But they arrived exactly where God wanted them. Just like you will. Whatever is past is a prelude. What lies ahead is the next journey you’ll take with God.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
That little phrase is both optimistic and a little bit wistful. I mean, everybody wants things to get better and better. But, for some, it’s a subtle code that may say, “It’s gotta be better than last year!”
I’ve had lots of conversations through the years with folks who look back on a year and basically say, “Man, I’m glad to get this year behind me.” They’re saying things didn’t go so well.
Plans made were not plans fulfilled. The anticipated didn’t show up and the unexpected became the norm. “Whew! It was one of those years!”
Here’s the reality, though, for God’s people who trust Him in every situation and all moments. God’s plans do work out. The landing spot, the final destination and goal, is in God’s hands. The journey may be circuitous and burdensome. It may break our heart over and over and over, but God always gets us there.
Think about that teenage couple, more than two thousand years ago, excited about their engagement having been betrothed according to Jewish custom with their whole life ahead of them. I imagine they did what young people preparing to get married do. They talked about the future. They anticipated happiness. One of the topics? Probably something like, “How many kids should we have? Do we start right away, or do we wait a couple years?” They probably planned to start right away. For a Jewish girl growing into womanhood, she embraced the honor that came with having children. Some scholars believe the Jews were convicted that a family of seven sons was perfect. (This is supported, to a degree, in Ruth 4:15 and I Samuel 2:5.)
So, when Joseph and Mary chose to obey and become God’s humble servants, tasked with raising His Son, it wasn’t their plan. It wasn’t the journey they anticipated or wanted. But it was God’s will. It couldn’t have been easy facing the skepticism and ridicule of their neighbors in Nazareth. They had been there all their lives. The town was probably excited for them when their families announced their engagement. But then there occurred an unexplainable (by human standards) pregnancy and a story that would one day be wonderful. But such wonder did not exist among the tongue-waggers in town back then.
Because of the census mandated by Caesar, Joseph and Mary traveled the ninety or so miles to Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem. There, with anonymity, they could escape the prying eye and the raised eyebrow.
After Jesus was born, they stayed in Bethlehem. Was that the original plan? Probably not. Joseph and Mary would normally have stayed in their hometown of Nazareth. Instead, Bethlehem was where Jesus was born. Perhaps it was the chance to start fresh without the scandal and disrepute. The fact that Herod wanted every child killed that was up to two years old shows they stayed there. (Matthew 2:16) The fact that the Magi visited them at a house (Matthew 2:11) shows they established roots.
When the family returned from Egypt after Herod’s death (they had been away anywhere from one to four years), they didn’t go back to Nazareth. It is likely they returned to Bethlehem. Perhaps they already added to their family. We know Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters. But because of Herod’s brother, who was as evil as Herod was, they decided to return to Nazareth. (Matthew 2:22-23) That is exactly where God wanted them to be.
They didn’t have the wedding they hoped to have. They didn’t live where they planned to live. They had a child long before they intended to. They fled for their very lives to Egypt, of all places! Then they couldn’t live, for a second time, where they wanted to live. It is nearly certain that Joseph died before Jesus began his ministry. Mary watched sons two through five despise her firstborn, the one named Jesus.
Very little went right. Nothing went according to plan. But they arrived exactly where God wanted them. Just like you will. Whatever is past is a prelude. What lies ahead is the next journey you’ll take with God.
Happy New Year!