11 January

Today's the day when in 1989 Ronald Reagan gave his farewell address to the American people. After eight years as President he declared that under his leadership the United States had ‘rediscovered' its commitment to world freedom and he spoke with particular enthusiasm about the achievements of his foreign policy.

Reagan's record was a bit more complicated than he described. One of the costs of America's renewed strength was vastly increased defence expenditure, which helped create a national debt of over one trillion dollars. And the peace he believed he had brokered in the Persian Gulf did not last very long. Nonetheless, the achievements of his administration gained him much favour with the American public and Ronald Reagan left office as one of the most popular modern U.S. presidents. Needless to say, his farewell speech went down a storm.

Another great farewell speech was given by Moses shortly before his death. It's recorded at the end of the book of Deuteronomy and I reckon this would have gone down a storm too. He blesses all the tribes of Israel one by one and ends with this word of encouragement for them all:

Blessed are you, Israel!
Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord?
He is your shield and helper
and your glorious sword.

What an encouragement that is! Maybe you could find a way of blessing someone by what you say to them today.