AND THEIR OFF!!

Rather, it's off. 2009. But you knew that.

I sort of slept in. Two boys have zorched out the door to hunt before our big afternoon meal. The girls are bounding around the house with an energy that indicates they have no clue that they just woke up. My in-laws remain snug in their beds, and my beautiful bride is folding together the batter for homemade Belgian waffles. It doesn't get much better than that.

Here we sit, perched upon the dawn (okay, mid-morning) of the New Year. 365 days ago I birthed this blog with a quote by John Stuart Mill on war (here). Who'd-a-thunk 2008 would bring the twists and turns that it did?

How much money did you lose in 2008? Were you betting on Hillary end game for the Dems? Had you ever heard of Sarah Palin? Did you imagine the tornadoes that would beset our country? Or a horrifying train wreck caused by text messaging? Do you remember that 2008 was the year that George Carlin, Charlton Heston, Heath Ledger, Jim McKay, Paul Newman, Tim Russert, Tony Snow, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Jerry Stack would all face their God. Some would meet Him for the first time only to be eternally separated from Him. Others would be graced with an embrace like they've never known as they are welcomed into the joy of the Lord.

What will January 2nd, 2009 hold in store? The writer of Ecclesiastes (yes, I think it was Solomon) railed against the frustrations, inhumanities, and inequities of life. His anguish took life in that he could only examine life "under the sun" and could not scrutinize the entire picture. Even as he sought explanation for the why's and wherefore's of God's divine hand, Solomon collided with the walls of his own finiteness.

He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. (Eccl. 3:1)

When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. (Eccl. 8:16-17)

Only when he stopped his manic search for satisfaction and turned his eyes above the sun, did he find his satisfaction. Not explanation, but peace and satisfaction, much like Job when God finally confronted him. Job could not discern the end of things but understood that the God who began them all had the end in plain sight.

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know...but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:3, 5)

2009. Plenty or poverty? My hope is that I will be able to echo Habakkuk's heart when he praised God with tear-reddened eyes,

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.

(Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Happy New Year, my friends.