Article December 24, 2001 Issue

"THE GATE OF THE YEAR"

Bill Stay

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand
into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way."

King George VI included these lines by Minnie Louise Haskins in his broadcast to the British nation on Christmas Day 1939. The year ahead was fraught with fear and uncertainty, but the words turned millions toward God and gave them courage and strength to face the future—a future that brought freedom and peace after a six-year war.

Once again the world faces a New Year filled with apprehension. Perhaps we can also turn to the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (16:33).

Bill Stay
Cape Town, South Africa

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