Sifting for the Significant

A new year begins even as we sort out the significant from the year before. We reflect on what happened last year. I accomplished some of my goals in 2009. I took my wife to Disneyworld for her first visit. Following up on a suggestion at a seminar for chaplains that I attended, I started reading the Quran (and finished today). Reading it both dismissed and confirmed opinions I had had concerning Islam. Much prejudice is based on ignorance. Security requires knowledge. Understanding demands knowing enough to have a conversation. I reconnected with old friends at the Freed-Hardeman University Bible Lectureship and on Facebook. My work responsibilities shifted during the year in ways that helped me to learn new skills and gain a greater appreciation for the complexity of our national defense. Singing gives me great joy. The Diana Singing for forty years has given Christians the opportunity to stay up all night singing praises to God and having great fellowship. The past two years I have participated in that magnificent celebration of God's love for his people. Patrick Swayze's death from pancreatic cancer reminded me how that horrible disease killed my father. Perhaps someone quickly will find an answer, or at least a way for quicker recognition, for that illness. Each of my children found a way to make me proud during the year. While each may stumble, as is the tendency of people their age, I pray that they will continue to mature and succeed in ways that will bless not only themselves, but the world around them. Faith, family, and friends enrich my life. I pray that my love and my work will return the favor.