Before Midnight – February 11, 2026 (39/365)

To conclude at the end of the day, and to end the first half of the week…

Well, against what my body is telling me to do, I’m not going to go to bed and read, I’m staying just a little bit more before this screen, to type… and to give thanks and praise to the Lord.

I don’t know, call it fanatical, call it putting it out there too much, I’d rather be doing this than anything else right now. It’s actually pretty nice because I’m giving more time to this now than I have been doing for the past – oh, weeks, even.

I have to admit that most of my time in said past weeks was spent on playing a single-player, isometric Fallout-esque game, called Atom RPG. Think Fallout, but in Russia. I mean, I remember back in my student days when weekends would mean stints lasting hours at a time, playing Warcraft then Starcraft, and a bunch of other games – well, it was either that or I’d make the most out of the Dial-Up Internet connection by downloading as much porn as possible.

That’s right, I was already so addicted to the stuff back in the day, and now that I look at it decades after, I regret to report that it’s just so easy to be sucked into it, without thinking of any of the long-term consequences to it.

But there it is – said consequences are subtle but sure changes to the way we think about ourselves and about women, about intercourse and placing it up there with every other vice imaginable.

Fortunately, though the temptation remains, what has made its way to my brain’s shores as of the past decade (at the very least) is the fact, and the Truth of the Gospel – that Christ’s finished work has ensured that I can never be separated from my God and Creator, who I confidently call my Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The temptations remain. The memories linger. The world itself is growing colder and darker, the hearts of men are failing them. As Daniel predicted, knowledge has and is continuing to increase in exponential levels… but through all of this we see happening before us and around us, it, again, gives us more reason to take in the Truth of Christ, and to proclaim the Truth of His finished work.

I really don’t think it’s an accident that, in the past days, the Bible Studies I’ve been brought to were pointing to seeing Christ in the Word (and predicating that the Word is more important for us to be consuming more now than ever), and also to apply the Truth of the Word in our literal existence (understanding that only by Christ’s blood was there total redemption and absolute reconciliation).

About the latter, I suppose I ought to be asking everyone within my sphere of influence, soon, this Valentines’ Sunday, actually: ‘If you knew that the Infinitely Powerful and Eternally Wise, Timeless and Borderless Creator of the Universe was as a loving, faithful Father who always thinks about you, how would you react?‘

I still don’t have an answer to that. I suppose I’ll try to answer it some other time. Tomorrow, maybe. Just knowing, here and now, that I am loved – well, that is enough.

So, thank You, Father. Thank You for Your lovingkindness that endures forever. Thank You that this entails that You love me with an everlasting love – the one TRUE love that stays and endures no matter what happens to us, or what we cause to happen.

Thank You, that I am able to move forth (wow, I suppose I’m answering that question already) without fear (sure as Your perfect love casts out all fear); at the very least, I will never be afraid of being alone, because by Christ Your promise has been guaranteed – that You will never leave me, You will never forsake me, and, in fact, You are always thinking about me.

Thank You, Father, that I am bold in saying all of this, simply because I know that Christ was born as one of us, He lay down His whole life to die the death we deserved, that we would be righteous as He is righteous – So that, when He rose again, so we rose again (confident in the Truth that as death could not hold Him down, so, though we perish, we live forever).

Thank You, Father, for by Your grace, Your Son ascended into heaven, if only to guarantee that we are also now seated with Him in the heavenly places, and the Holy Spirit is the Godhead present with us even in this wretched existence, just as we are present with Him beyond time and space.

Thank You, Father! For by said Holy Spirit we are able to dive deeper into the Truth of our righteousness and sanctification, taking it in, in this time and day – that is, what it truly means to be saved by Christ.

Thank You, Father, for these Truths just continue to flow in and through me, even at this time, ministering to my mind, body, soul, and spirit, and just my entire being; Your Life, Love and Light working in all that concerns me, in all that I am concerned about, in all my heartaches, in all my triumph, in all the mundane…

Oh, thank You so much, Father! For even if I don’t see it, as the song goes, You ARE working.

Even if I don’t feel it, Father, I know You are working. Sure as Your Son is alive, You are working all things (past, present and future) for my good, for the advancement of Your kingdom, and for the ultimate glory of Your name!

Father, thank You for rest, for restoration, for renewal. Thank You for sleep, and for Your power and peace at work even as we doze off. Your name is as Your word, and Your word is as Your name – worthy of all praise and glory.

Thank You, Father, for everything!

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