2025

As we prepare to turn the calendar to 2025, and as I prepare to turn 78, I have written down a group of Hopes/Prayers for the coming year, and also a group of Personal Resolutions.

You know I’m a follower of Jesus, who transformed me forty years ago, and that we live in a unique nation founded on Christian principles. These two truths are the wellspring for what follows.

Hopes and Prayers for 2025

1. In 2025 we need much less federal government, for two reasons. The most obvious is our egregious deficit spending, which now has us over $36 trillion in debt. We cannot sustain so much spending—higher interest rates and inflation will destroy our economy and threaten civil order.

The second reason is that both our Christian faith and our national genius are focused on the individual, not on the group or the tribe. God has created each of us with our own unique talents and gifts, and with His help we’ll use them for His purposes and to benefit ourselves and our families. Individually. Uniquely.

America is about encouraging and releasing those individual talents, not about creating a society in which every difference between us must be resolved or made right by another government program, law or regulation. To put it simply, the government is not God, and we can’t spend or legislate ourselves to paradise.

2. The traditional alternative to less government is more family (and relationships in general). So for 2025 I pray for stronger families, where our individual talents first flourish, and where real love, fair discipline, abundant grace and constant teamwork grow and refine those talents with years of interaction. That means committed fathers, not sperm donors, who provide and protect and do the hard work of leadership, not as macho cowboys, but as submitted followers of our common Father.

3. Returning to the macro level, how do we start in 2025 to have less government and spend less every year? I hope and pray that the new President’s team and their initiatives will shake up the status quo in early 2025 by questioning the purpose and efficacy of every government program, department and employee. God speed.

Here’s something I wrote earlier on this subject: Time to Simplify, which includes some practical suggestions on reducing the cost of government.

But our President-elect has, like all politicians except Nikki Haley, stated that he will not “touch” Social Security or Medicare.

I don’t believe it’s possible to meaningfully reduce our annual budget deficit without doing so. I agree not to change anything major for those, say, 45 or older. But for younger workers the age for initial benefits could easily be moved a year or two later. And even those today who receive, say, $2,000 or more per month could forgo cost of living increases for a year or two, which would both save a huge amount and set an important example.

4. On the international level, my hope and prayer in 2025 is for a quick end to the devastating wars in Ukraine, the Mideast, and Africa. But in a way that encourages and protects the principles of individual freedom and religious diversity over authoritarianism, and without rewarding hate or aggression.

5. My last prayer and hope for 2025 is the most important, because everything listed above will eventually pass away, but God’s Word and people willlast forever. Think about that: people will last forever. For eternity. But so many of our dearest family members and friends ignore eternity, or at least what God has said about living forever.

My wife and I pray daily that His truth will come crashing through all the lies, the screens and the pride that keep our loved ones from acknowledging their need for the savior. Surely they have occasional feelings—get glimpses—that there is more to our existence than just our bodies.

Ken Boa says that this life is the second birth canal into eternal life. Each of us will live eternally. But where, and how? Eternity. You can read my own thoughts at I’m Too Smart to Follow Jesus, You and I Will Die, and Faith is Reasonable. And, if you’re curious, On The Edge is the fictionalized story of how God transformed my life forty years ago.

Personal Resolutions for 2025

1. The personal side of that last Hope and Prayer is to prepare for Heaven myself. Eternity will be incredible in Heaven, but the one thing I won’t be ableto do there is tell others about Jesus and his gift to us—the believers will be there with him. So with whatever time I have left on this side of eternity, my resolution is to do all I can with my words, writing and actions to tell others about God’s free gift of salvation and eternity with Him.

And, as time conspires to run down my own body, and those of my friends, not to worry or despair about it. Bodily death is part of life. The first birth was not painless, and neither should the second be. But both periods of pain lead to unimaginable results!

2. With His help I want to finish my fifth novel—and there’s a chance, because it will be much more compact than Nation On The Edge. And I want to tackle audio versions of all my books, particularly Ten Lies and Ten Truths.

3. I want to connect in some significant way with each of our grandchildren this year. The details will be different for each one, but I want to be intentional to watch and to listen for what will be meaningful in their lives.

4. We want to open the Natural Burial site at Kanuga this year. A group of us has worked on this initiative with the Kanuga staff for several years, and 2025 should be our beginning. If you are a conservative Christian, a Green, or both, check out natural burial—the symbolism and/or the green reality should appeal to you.

5. With several friends I want to continue to push back against misguided and harmful Woke/DEI policies in schools, the military, and organizations in general.

6. For as long as we’ve had children I’ve been pretty good about keeping an annually updated record of financial details, instructions, insurance, bank accounts, passwords, etc., in case Heaven comes sooner rather than later.

But now I want to focus more on organizing the physical side, deciding where and how we will live, and trying to account for as many contingencies as possible. The plans will be imperfect and might take longer to accomplish than a year, but I want to try to reach some conclusions in 2025.

My family and I wish you and your family a safe, healthy, properous and meaningful New Year.

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