and never
leaving him all the way through.  And you may observe they _follow_ him,
so that he does not always see them, and may not even know they are
there.  He may sometimes imagine that he is forsaken and alone, but he is
strangely mistaken, for Goodness and Mercy are close behind, the one to
supply his need, and the other to deal graciously even with his sin.

If we are in Christ Jesus, we may be as sure of the future as of the
past.  We may be perfectly certain of the truth of the words of the Good
Shepherd, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand.” {94b}  That promise is so sure that it can never fail, that
hand so strong that all theResidents flee as flames approach wealthy California enclave

by ROBERT JABLON and CHRIS CARLSON, Associated Press

In this Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, flames from a back firing operation underway rise behind a home off Ladera Lane near Bella Vista Drive in Santa Barbara, Calif. Red Flag warnings for the critical combination of low humidity and strong winds expired for a swath of Southern California at midmorning but a new warning was scheduled to go into effect Saturday in the fire area due to the predicted return of winds. The so-called Thomas Fire, the fourth-largest in California history, was 35 percent contained after sweeping across more than 394 square miles (1,020 sq. kilometers) of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties since it erupted