The God Who holds the past, present, and future in His hands is always as good as His Word, always keeps His promises. We often think of Advent as the "Now and Not-yet" season of hope, but here in Lent we see God speak in the present tense of His gift of the Savior to Abram and Sarai. In Romans we hear of the lasting (yet not fully realized) effects of God's love being poured into our hearts, being justified, reconciled, and saved. The Holy Spirit empowers Peter to confess Jesus as the Christ one minute and in almost the next breath Satan inspires Peter to tell the Christ that He has misunderstood God's plan of salvation. As Christians, God's cross has been placed upon us in our baptism and we daily bear its weight as we set our minds on the things of God and witness to the grace of Christ's cross and its ultimate glory (whether society grudgingly tolerates the message or offers outright martyrdom). Denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Christ will lead to many tense situations in life where our present circumstances may be challenging, yet our future joy is perfectly blessed as the nail-pierced hands of the only One to ever perfectly take up His cross in obedience to God's plan of salvation holds, supports, and sustains us!