We’ve made it through half of 2026. How do feel about the year so far? Are we better off than we were just 6 months ago? There are many different answers to that question, some positive and some not too positive. But in retrospect, the God we serve was on the throne January 1st, 2026, and is still on the throne July 1st, 2026, so why worry? God is still on the throne and God still loves and cares for each of us. This world has little to offer, yet we still reach for it when we can!!

This year we are celebrating 250 years as a nation, (the same God who assisted in the founding and forming of this nation, is that same one I just mentioned!) there will be parades and fireworks, special services and lots of parties to celebrate this momentous occasion. Still at 250 years we can consider ourselves a young nation, while we speak of hundreds of years in America, there are countries around the world who celebrate a thousand or more years of its existence.

Much has happened in our world in the last 250 years, my how things have changed. We were once mostly wilderness, and now we have huge cities whose lights are so bright they soften the light of the stars. Traveling was a nightmare, one needed a good horse and sturdy wagon to go from place to place, and often times it took days or weeks or sometimes months to get to where you wanted to go, the railways made it easier, but now with the interstate highways and air travel, what used to take days now takes hours or just minutes.

There was a time when information flowed like mud in a dry river, it would often take days or weeks to hear the latest news or see and read a newspaper. Things improved with local print shops popping up around the country, then radio became a popular medium for getting information out. Television soon replaced the radio, but newspapers were still read by many. Television moved beyond the standard three channels and into the cable news era where information could be shared immediately often as it was happening, even the newspapers couldn’t keep up. Now there is so much information out there, and with AI becoming more and more prevalent, it’s hard to believe the things that we see with our own eyes, let alone the things we hear!!

The internet has changed our world, or maybe I should say technology has changed our world. Some would say for the better, while others would challenge that assumption. Some people want to go back to a time when life was simpler, less cluttered, when one could sit down and read about a world where peace prevailed, (then again has that ever been true?) At least to a world that wasn’t screaming at you from all angles. But then again, how many of us would want to live in a world that doesn’t have all of this technology? No electricity, cars, trains, plains, television, computers! Most of us couldn’t exist in that world anymore, imagine having to read a map to get anywhere, or waiting days for socks to arrive at the local mercantile instead of zipping up to Dollar General to get a pair when ours developed holes. Imagine waiting for the river to freeze so you could have ice for the icebox, it really wasn’t that long ago!

With all of the changes technology has brought to this world we should be grateful, for through technology people recover from illness more often and faster, through technology we can communicate with family and friend/missionaries around the globe, through technology people in nations hostile to Christianity can hear the message of Jesus Christ and have hope for the future. Through technology shut-ins can see and listen to our services on Sunday mornings which often times gives them a feeling of being connected. This nation, this world would not be where it is without technology. In some ways that is good and some ways it’s not so good, but one thing has remained constant… God is still on the throne, Hallelujah!

Enjoy the holiday.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Denny