“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.” Traditional Lord’s Prayer A week ago, my elderly body was doing battle with an evil and unrelenting respiratory challenge and I decided to stay home and worship live stream with my previous congregation in Lincoln, NE. In the message, Pastor Luke shared that he and wife Jane had read a comment from a daily devotion on the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer that caught their attention in a surprising way. It read; “And forgive us our Christmases, as we forgive those who Christmas against us.” Before you read on, please, just hit pause for a moment and consider those words and how they may apply to you. It is crazy how the Spirit works as I have been reading through ‘The Caribbean’ by James Michener the past few months off and on and had just finished chapter ten that was about the period of the Haitian revolution from 1797 – 1804. The past of our fallen world is much darker than we know or probably would admit. We could replace the word ‘trespasses’ with ‘slavery’ for all the inhumane things we sinful people have accomplished for the sake of ‘improvement’ throughout history. Our brothers and sisters living in Haiti are going through very troubling times with the violent gangs. The fears they daily face were also felt by their ancestors. There are so many challenges sponsored by satan and his agents in our country and around this world in these trying times. Lord, deliver us from the evil one. In this coming year, let us examine ourselves daily and resist the evil challenges and not be complacent. Be courageous, God is with us. Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen. May God be with you, Jay