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Why the Times Square ball will drop three times this year · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Happy New Year!
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Thursday, January 1, 2026, and you've joined us for Dennison forums, Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome!
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm near Raider, Chris Elkins, giving voice to today's Daily Article, written by friend and CEO, Dr. Jim Dennison.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: My amazing editor gets up every morning at 5.30 to proofread that daily article posted on our website and distributed via email.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: To give her today's holiday off, we finished this article yesterday.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, I'm predicting what you now know to be true or not.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Roughly, 1 million people packed into New York's Times Square last night to watch a crystal ball drop from one Times Square as midnight approached.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: The ball was new this year, adorned with 5,280 crystals and weighing about 12,350 pounds.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: For the first time ever, it was real it and dropped again at approximately 1204 a.m. Eastern time in anticipation of America's 250th anniversary on July 4th, 2026.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The ball will drop a third time on the eve of the 4th of July for the same reason.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dwar County in Wisconsin dropped a giant cherry into a crowd of people while Amelia Island Florida dropped a giant shrimp and Boise Idaho dropped a giant glowing potato at the state's capital.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I think beginning the new year with a lighted ball descending to a waiting crowd is especially appropriate.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Consider these facts.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's dark at midnight, which makes the light more necessary, obvious and powerful.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: The light descends from the heavens above to the earth below.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's light is available to all, but experienced only by those who seek to do so.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was anticipated when I wrote about it, but it became a reality at the proper moment, not a minute too soon or too late.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you were reading about such a light on Christmas rather than New Year's Day, would any of this same familiar?
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Simian called the baby Jesus, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, in Luke 2, verse 32.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: John 1, verses 4 and 5 say of God's Son, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we trust Him as our Lord, Colossians 1, verse 13 tells us our Father delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: In this kingdom, according to verse John 1, verse 5, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to verse 7, it teaches that we are called to walk in the light as He is in the light.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Martin Luther warned, quote, the sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands."
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quotes.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Conversely, David prayed in Psalm 18, verse 28.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is you who light my lamp, the Lord, my God, lightens my darkness.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we choose the former,
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: We experience the latter.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: To walk in the transforming light of Christ this year, we must determine to do so.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is the New Year's Resolution of all resolutions.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus honors the free will with which we are made in God's image, noted in Genesis 1, verse 27, so He will not force us to walk in His light to experience His transforming grace.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's make six practical resolutions within the resolution to walk in the light.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, start each day in the light of Christ.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: We cannot walk in the light unless we are in the light.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Begin every day with Jesus in worship, prayer, and Bible study as you connect your heart with His and submit your life and day to His Spirit, eating Ephesians 5 verse 18, to stay in the light throughout the day.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: When the enemy tempts you with darkness, leverage his evil for good by turning instantly to the spirit for his guidance and power.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you step out of the light, confess your sins immediately, claim your father's forgiveness and return to the light.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Focus on the present.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: We cannot walk the next mile while walking this mile.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: All of God there is is in this moment.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Give thanks to God for all that is good.
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: After her horrific captivity, a freed Israeli hostage named Emily Demari wrote.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have learned to value everything I do in my life.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I open the fridge, I say thank you.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I drink cold water, I say thank you.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am thankful for everything, big things and little things.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Gratitude is very important.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am grateful that I have the privilege of being thankful.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: in quotes.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: 5.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Trust God to redeem all that is hard.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew Henry noted, Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of Extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of Extraordinary graces.
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quotes.
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: As the Roman philosopher
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: make Christ's likeness your goal.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jane, good all wrote what you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make in quote, you can make no greater difference in the world than manifesting the light of Christ in our dark culture.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, if we make these daily resolutions, we will fulfill our life resolution.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: We will walk in the lie as he is in the lie revealed in 1st John 1, verse 7.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: His Spirit will transfuse our minds and hearts with the light of Christ.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: His light will shine through our words and works and defeat the darkness wherever we go.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And neither our lives, nor our world,
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: will ever be the same.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: As you begin your year, I want to highly recommend our Ministry's daily devotional resource, first 15.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: A link to it is in today's podcast episode notes.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: A recent article reminded us, you can do all that God has called you to do.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it be victory over sin, engaging in difficult confession, walking biblically rather than according to the world, seeking unity and fellowship with those that bother you, or simply seeking God with all your heart, the Holy Spirit will strengthen you today if you're willing to receive.
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, what next step into his light has God called you to today?