Our cat has a hashtag. It all started when we noticed him laying flat on his back, completely relaxed, in all sorts of random and odd places: the middle of the kitchen floor, at the foot of the stairs, up against a hallway wall, next to the freestanding oven range, under the dining room table…just about anywhere.

Someone posed this provocative question in a social media post recently: “What if we took sin as seriously as we take COVID-19?” I can’t stop thinking about the irony here. What if sin took hold of the world’s conscience and provoked an international reaction on par with COVID-19?

As we turn the corner on 2019 and begin another new year, I find myself in a sober mood. It’s early on New Year’s Eve as I write, and fitting to reflect on the previous 12 months. The holidays have always been a time of happy reunions and celebrations for my crew and 2019 was no different. But for many it’s a profoundly difficult time.

It’s harvest time. We’re experiencing a very warm autumn here in Southeast PA. The leaves have finally started falling. The once green, full trees are now thinning and the landscape is starting to change. At about this time a few years ago I wrote my first blog for Study With Friends.

I’m learning to stop obsessing over the mistakes of my past, trusting the One who has already covered them.

God sent Moses with the command that Pharaoh “let my people go.” When Pharaoh refused, God brought ten plagues on the land of Egypt. Hebrews 11:28 refers to the tenth and worst plague, which was the death of all the firstborn in Egypt on the night of the very first Passover, “By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.” This refers to the instructions God gave the Israelites to sacrifice a spotless lamb (“without blemish”) and mark their doorposts with its blood. When the Lord’s “Destroyer” passed through the nation, He would “pass over” the households that showed the blood. The lamb’s blood saved the Israelites from the plague and spared the lives of their firstborn children.