Year in Review: 2024
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
Post tenebras lux is a Latin phrase translated as "light after darkness" that became the motto of Calvinism and the Protestant Reformation.
A similar phrase I recently learned about is post tenebras spero lucem: "after darkness, I hope for light". Both of these phrases remind me of the first few verses of the first chapter of John:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
As we continue to celebrate the season of Christmas, we are reminded of what it meant for Jesus to come and dwell on Earth; the Light of the World given for us. He is the snake-crusher, the one who redeemed us from our sins and brought us out of the darkness. The dark cannot exist where the light shines.
Even through all the peaks and valleys this last year brought, I can look back and see God's faithfulness to me through every day. The light even now shines through everything, and the darkness has not overcome it.
It appears apropos to write a retrospective of the past year, both as a way to remember the past 366 days (that's right, we had a Leap Year!) and as a way to celebrate God's faithfulness. Without further ado, here's a look back in photos on the year that was 2024:
January
As my home church's building project started to wrap up, I had a couple opportunities to help my dad with specific projects: a Communion table, baptismal font, and wood panels inside the church (more on that later). The table design is inspired by the Gothic arches throughout the new building.
February
A photo of note from this month was of this little beauty of a dragonfly that decided to land on our front door. Google and an entomologist friend told me it's likely Libellula needhami, or Needham's skimmer. It's incredible that with all the species of insects around the world, God decided to "show off" with them. The beauty of creation!
March
I turned 30! It was a month of celebrating, and my church celebrated me in a big way the Sunday after my birthday (cards, gifts, et cetera). I felt the love this month.
One of my love languages is LEGO! I've loved it since I was little and will continue to as long as LEGO keeps making cool sets like these.
Remember those wood panels I talked about earlier? They got installed this month. Dad and I were up in a lift installing them at church. Good thing I'm not afraid of heights!
April
Not much to note from this month, so here's a picture of our family cat. And yes, she knows she's incredibly photogenic.
May
Lots of activity this month:
- Trip #1: Our family got annual passes to Walt Disney World (30th birthday present) and took our first trip during the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival. It’s been a while since my last visit to Disney World, around 2011 or 2012. (Night of Joy, anyone?)
- Trip #2: We took a week-long trip to Pennsylvania to see old family friends. I saw the stained glass window my dad worked on over twenty years ago, shopped at Lancaster Central Market (America's oldest farmer's market), toured Martin Guitar (America's oldest guitar manufacturer) and Yuengling Brewery (America's oldest operating brewery).
I had planned to purchase a guitar after touring Martin, but the particular model I wanted wasn't available (OM-JM 20th Anniversary). Through a wild turn of events on our drive back home, we learned that a shop in Nashville, Tennessee, had one, and took a 500-mile detour to get it! I think it makes the story even cooler now.
June
Something that I've always wanted to own one day is a guitar from my birth year. Since I turned 30 this year, it appeared fitting to pull the trigger, and this month I became the proud owner of a Fender American Standard Stratocaster 40th Anniversary. I found it online in practically mint condition, and I'm looking forward to many more years of music with this one.
Later that month, the fam took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Magic Kingdom. We thought we might get rained out, but it cleared up later in the day and we got to see the fireworks that night. It becomes a wholly different experience at nighttime when the parks are all lit up!
Our final trip in June (and into July) was another Pennsylvania trip, this time for my cousin's wedding. On our way there, we stopped in D.C. to see the Jefferson Memorial which I hadn't seen since I was little...
...And after the wedding we went to the Flight 93 Memorial and toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater...
...And after making a stop at Youghiogheny Glass, we drove through West Virginia and stopped at the New River Gorge Bridge.
July
Shoutout to Coleman for being my adventure buddy/tour guide for my first trip (ever) to Hollywood Studios! Seeing Galaxy's Edge for the first time was an emotional experience. I felt like a kid on Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler's Run, I fell in love with the immersion on Battu and Oga's, and while we did get rained out later in the day it was nonetheless an incredible visit!
August
No photos; to be honest, August was a bit of a harder month. My church's pastor search hit a roadblock which caused some leaders on the committee and some members to leave the church. By God's grace we maintained our momentum, and it required me to keep trusting in God and to follow the process to find our next pastor.
September
Time for another Disney trip! Animal Kingdom was next on our list, and I think I realized how underrated of a park it is! The theming, the animal exhibits, and the food (especially the cheeseburger bao buns in Pandora) were all excellent, and I'm excited for this park to get more love in the coming years with the Tropical Americas expansion!
October
'Tis the season for hurricanes! Hurricane Milton blew across the state and the eye wall crossed over Cape Canaveral, but thankfully no power was lost at our home.
Later in the month we took a trip to EPCOT for the Food & Wine Festival. It was perfect weather, and the food and the fireworks were incredible!
November
We had another round of Food & Wine at EPCOT this month, so that meant more photos of our food.
December
On a more somber note, my church that I worked at and called "home" for almost three years voted to close. The short story is after our planting pastor resigned in April 2023, we could not find someone to take over. We found an excellent interim pastor, but he was merely there for a year and our pastor search committee could not find an eligible candidate. Our attendance had been declining, and we made the tough decision to close and allocate our assets to other church plants and ministries we were supporting. It was hard to make the decision to close, but I trust that God was faithful in using New City over the past five years to spread the gospel and impact the community in south Palm Bay.
We took one final trip to Disney before Christmas (and blockout dates), and boy, was it a whirlwind! We started at EPCOT for Festival of the Holidays, then took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom resorts (Grand Floridian and Contemporary) to see the gingerbread houses. Then we dropped in to Magic Kingdom to see the Christmas decor at sunset, then booked it back to EPCOT to see the Candlelight Processional!
On December 24th, I got a chance to play at my home church's Christmas Eve candlelight worship services. Two services back to back was both fun and exhausting, but I'm grateful that I could help out.
And to cap off the month, New City's final service was today, December 29th. I knew that in the lead-up to our last service there would be a lot of "lasts" to experience, and that was decidedly true that day. "Bittersweet" is the perfect word to describe the service; sorrow that we many of us are going our separate ways, and praise and thanksgiving to God for His faithfulness. I’ve been grateful to call New City “home” for the past almost three years. While the past year and a half brought many new challenges, they have shaped and grown me (personally and professionally) into a better person, and I am grateful for that.
I am reminded that the Church is not confined to a building or a single congregation but is the ecclesia, the Body of Christ, alive and thriving regardless of where His people gather. New City Church has been a part of that greater mission, and God’s work through us will continue where He leads us.
Looking ahead
I plan to worship and serve at Covenant Church in the new year until I find my next job. I've been keeping my eyes open for full-time worship leader/director jobs in Florida, but I am equally open to the Lord leading me someplace else. You can read more of my thoughts on that in my first blog post:
McCartney Diener
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