Philippians 3:13-14

New Year’s Eve for me when I was a boy was overcast with solemn thoughts. My officer parents would see that the family attended the Watch Night service, where, after expressions of thankfulness to God for His mercies and exhortation to new resolutions to mend our ways, the crucial moment of the midnight meridian would approach as the seconds ticked away. Then the distant church bells would herald the dawn of a New Year, at which our hearts would be strangely awed by the magic of it all.

The service over, we would line up behind father and proceed to our home, where he would gravely open the door to the New Year, saying in sepulchral tones, “May the blessing of God be on this house through the coming year.” It seemed as through the house had been exorcised of the evil spirits in the family circle through…