Year end, yet again

Sometimes reality makes my head swim.  For example, as I gnawed chicken wings a year ago tonight (yes, an odd tradition), I had no idea Tom Watson would vie for the British Open title but choke it away on the last hole of regulation play.  I had no idea how our new President would lead our nation.  I had no idea Michael Jackson would up and die.  I had no idea Tiger Woods would prove to be all too human.

I know the painful detail behind all of those events.  Now.

Isn't it odd that before us heaves an ocean of unknown?  The further we try to look from this moment, the hazier the horizon becomes.  And yet when we look back, the wake of our journey has high-def clarity.

Here we stand at the end of the dock in 2009 ready to embark upon 2010.  What storms will come?  When will we know tranquil seas and stellar weather?  What dragons lie at the edge of the map?

Will the nations of the world cripple their economies by submitting themselves to the whim of the weather?

Will America's beacon return to its inceptional brilliance or will it continue to dim?

Where will the adherents of Islam seek to rain their devastation?

Where will Barack Obama guide our nation?

Who will emerge as the Michael Ohrer of 2010 (go see "Blindside")?

What surprises will come out of Hollywood?  Will Pixar continue to bat 1.000?

Who will succumb to the drawn-out consequences of the curse like Ted Kennedy and Farrah Fawcett or die without warning like Billy Mays and Natasha Richardson?

Whose life will end suddenly at the hand of another as happened to Steve McNair and George Tiller?

Will we continued down Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" when it comes to healthcare, bailouts, economic policies, and the like or will we cut the umbilical and accept personal responsibility?

How will marriages fare this year?  Yours?  What will you invest? 

To whom will God entrust a new child on this voyage?

What unforseen boon will blow onboard our boat?

Should , He see fit to grant us each another 365 days, we will know the answers to all these questions.

Better than the knowing of the answers to those unanswered questions is what we will be and what we will have done by December 31, 2010.  Better still, what will we become over the next month, or the next week, or this next day.  Each breath is a gift.  You know that.  So breathe deep and use it well.

Tom Watson could have conceded the British Open by not playing in it.  You know, the game is for younger men.  But Tom got on a plane with his creaking bones, crossed the Atlantic, overcame the jetlag, and played the game.  He very nearly created the story of the century.  Missed it by that much, he did, but he teed it up and let it rip.

Please don't make impotent resolutions tonight.  That's like sitting on the edge of the dock and letting the tide roll in around you.  Commit to something and do it. Climb on board your Mayflower and take the Good News across the ocean.

No telling where God will land your boat 365 days from now should you embark.