The morning and most of the day was the kind that made Rudolph famous, as my co-worker quipped. Fog so thick the driving conditions were treacherous, and that was before factoring in Wichita drivers who always still surprise me with their ineptitude and aggression. (Lights, people! In fog, you turn on your headlights!) For three days the Wichita area was covered in a blanket of fog. Not the white Christmas we were dreaming of, as another co-worker pointed out. (I have funny co-workers.)
The holidays would end up being lackluster at best - lots of events that I attended alone, lots of second guessing the gifts I bought, lots of "it is what it is" realizations. I suppose all of that was part and parcel of the year we were about to put behind us.
The year had been one of unexpected turns - my family had navigated a heart attack, a stroke, breast cancer, emergency room trips, and the ever-underlying sadness of those who are gone. None of these had been on anyone's bingo card. None of the events that brought us to our knees time and again in 2025 were planned nor were they maligned as cosmic cruelty or "why-me"-inducing drama. Simply life being its unpredictable self in an unpredictable world.
What was predictable in our year of surprises was this - the foundation laid in our family, in our individual hearts, was sure and strong. God was present. God was faithful. God came near.
Now more than ever I know that my faith is not a get-out-of-stress free card. As Toby Mac said after losing his son, we have "no under the table deal with God" that bad things will never touch us. Life can be painful, and our call to prayer when it is, is not a collective bargaining with God that He will always make it all go away. The prayers offered in the midst of our struggles are not transactional. Do we ask for God to move? Yes. Does He always? No. Because the blessing of prayer is praying... not always getting what we want.
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| (This isn't Wichita, obviously, but what a beautiful foggy morning in Wyoming that was.) |
The perfect world created in the beginning of the Book (and coming again in the end of the book) is and always will be this. God With Us. Immanuel - a Faithful Friend Who never walks away, a doting and providing Father who knows us inside out and still He loves.
On Christmas Day, the fog still hadn't lifted. I drove to northwest Wichita to pick up my beloved aunt for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast at IHoP. (Christmas hits different when you don't have kids. LOL) The farther I got from home, the denser the fog. The good thing was it was Christmas morning, and most Wichita drivers were not on the roads.
As an unexpected traffic light emerged from the haze nearly too late to be honored, I had a thought. I can only see so far - literally and figuratively. I don't know what 2026 holds very much like I could never have predicted 2025 twists and turns. We can't know everything on the horizon - the horizon is covered in fog.
What I do know is this - God will be present. God will be faithful, and it's still true when we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. Come what may, whatever emerges from the fog, whatever brings us to our knees.
Happy 2026, yall.