The word of the day is “country.”  As we begin the new year, hardly anyone of us would like to go back to the difficulties of the past year.  We wish for a better time ahead despite the current challenges our society faces.  Our passage of Hebrews 11:8, 11-16 also writes about hope.  But it is not a hope for a better life here on earth.  t is the longing for celestial world far above the struggles of this life.  Thus, the apostle writes about those who have spent their entire lives in the expectation of a greater kingdom.  He says, “but now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.  Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called…