New Year, New Hope

As I write this its 2005. I'll be 40 this year. Playing in my backyard in rural NC I never thought I'd be 40. 40 year old people were just one step from the grave when you are 10. All in all I sense that being 40 is just the beginning of new adventures for me and my family. In the coming months I'll be teaching on evangelism, the persecuted church and doing a seminar on Islam with a group from SC. I'll also be going to FT Jackson to work at the US Army Chaplain School for a few weeks. At my church I'm leading a couple of Bible studies one in the Gospel of John and one in the book of James. The in May I'll be mobilized and head to FT Jackson for a year deployment. I could be heading to Iraq, but as it turns out not this year.
The last few weeks have been trying, work has been slow and I've been tested to trust God where I see very little. Its a bit like driving in the fog, you know the road is there, but everything is obscured. You just have to slow down and pay closer attention.
I ran into an old buddy of mine this morning at the grocery store. He's pushing 40 too and three weeks ago had a heart attack! He's fortunate that he went to the doctor. He's doing much better now. We had a long conversation in the BI-LO parking lot about Jesus, theology, the war and the tsunami. His name is Eric and he's always been a bit eccentric, but he has lots of clarity about life. He has some peculiar beliefs, but what an interesting conversation.
I'm off now to go run, gotta get the PT in. Blog on!