January 2021 A.D. In
the Year of our Lord
Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy
New Year!
Those lucky bugs who have enjoyed a living Christmas tree
must face a sad day. Before long, the fresh scent will be gone, and you will
tire of sweeping pine needles. So, the tree is taken out the door and disposed
of however your town deems ecologically acceptable.
But if you know the true reason people decorate all
those trees, you have an eternal evergreen. What the cherubim and a flaming
sword blocked from our guilty parents in Eden has been prepared for you –
supersized by Gospel grace!
Jesus came to reveal God!
Jesus died to redeem sinners!
Jesus is coming to renew all things!
Mercy prevented fallen Adam and Eve from accessing the
tree of life. I certainly am thankful these creaky bones are not my eternal
abode. Yet, wonderfully, God’s everlasting mercy now invites us to a new heaven
and new earth where we’ll TikTok in new bodies. The Lord has already landscaped
His city with multiple trees of life along the riverside.
Those life-giving trees from God and the Lamb will
never lose their leaves. Those leaves symbolize the transformational healing
God will give His saints from every nation – not just the people but also their
politics, all saints, and all structures. God’s final healing will not be a
band aid, a feeble punishment soon escaped by presidential pardon. No, God’s
healing will make everything irreversibly right. We will see even the worst
things somehow worked for our good, and His glory. Get ready for a celebration
that neither COVID nor King Herod can cancel.
This is our sure and certain hope.
God is truth. He cannot lie. These are His promises. Since Jesus is the coming
and current King, we should embrace 2021 as “the year of our Lord.” Is your
ultimate trust in vaccines and government economic recovery plans or the One
who “heals all our diseases” and has “the government on His shoulders?” Even
though we have no idea what
January 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of
our mission career. In January 1981 Mark went to Uganda with Professors Harvie
Conn and Jack Miller and 8 Westminster Theological Seminary students. That
young kid would never have imagined having such a life-long mission partner, (we look forward to our 39th
wedding anniversary January 9) the great people and interesting places we would
serve, and how faithful our support team would be – love, prayers, and provision
from God and His people have kept us going all these years!
Words cannot convey our appreciation as we
follow Him into this New Year in Beijing!!
Trusting Him with you for all our tomorrows, Mark and Dayna
Blair
We live in a very COVID-safe city! (…yes, that fact
drips with irony and paradox!)
Churches can’t meet but we all gotta eat! So, our new
‘pulpit’ is our dining room table, sharing life with old and new friends.
God has wonderfully cared for our family, stretched half-way around the world.
Please Pray with Us
COVID restrictions have limited church gatherings
including some of our opportunities.
Our son Josiah has moved to Portland and needs wisdom
and direction for this next chapter of his life.
Mark is trying to write the story of our life in
mission.
Our Mission Pioneers
- 10123 William Carey Dr - Orlando, FL 32832 USA
Checks
to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’
Electronic
transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx
(Our
Account # is 110565, Mark and Dayna Blair)
Email blairstan2@gmail.com Or blairstan@psmail.net (secure)
Blog www.blairstan.blogspot.com
· At least 1.5 billion people do not have the full Bible in their language.
· At least 7,000 languages are spoken or signed around the
world.
· At least 2,000 languages still need a Bible translation
started.
· Gospel ministry is being done in more than 2,700 languages
worldwide.
Source:
Wycliffe Global Alliance, October 2020
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