It was a great year...

...thanks for being a part of it.

Yes, it seems everyone on Facebook is sharing about their 2014, mainly because Facebook has written code that compiles pictures and makes it really easy. In some cases, it has even caused some unintended heartache. But it's definitely the thing to do.

Well, while I'm not going to click the button for one of those automatic slideshows, there is some value in looking back over the last year. Life is short, and what happens to each of us in a given year has incredible significance. Sometimes good, sometimes bad...but definitely loaded with significance. So, as we come to the end of this year, what stands out about 2014 for me?

There were definitely events and activities that I will remember, both fondly and otherwise. Trips to other parts of the world, exciting sports events, a few days skiing, and a short trip to my favorite big city in the USA. Those were awesome, and they are are the kind of things we usually use to "bookmark" years. ("2014 - It was the year that I.......")

But there are four things about 2014 that make it a remarkable year for me. Two of them are events, and the other two were more of a pattern:

• The graduation of my niece Brooke from nursing school at the University of Alabama. As watched her walk across the floor of Coleman Coliseum, I was so proud of her. It may be the moment from 2014 that stands out.
• The engagement of another niece Macy, and watching her go through the preparations for the wedding. In a way it's hard to realize that these young adults whom I've loved for about 25 years are moving so fast into the world of work, marriage, and building of their own families. But any melancholy is overshadowed by happiness for them. Macy's wedding will certainly be on this list for 2015.

Now, the more subtle:

• I have had such a good year of learning and growing in my knowledge of God and his purposes for the world. I read several outstanding books that expanded my view of salvation, the nature of the universe, and just how big and awesome God is. There has been a growing appreciation in the areas of the work of creation, God's ultimate plan for his kingdom, and my role in it. I am not looking up at the night sky the way I did a year ago. Books, videos, and long talks with friends have opened my eyes to a new sense of wonder.
• And I have had a wonderful year of experiencing the sense of community that God has blessed us with. Regular time with family and close friends, visits to close friends who don't live so close, and developing deep friendships while serving in Ethiopia - I can't even put into words how much these things mean in my life. It's like they are sacraments - means of grace where God speaks to me and draws me closer to himself. I don't mean to put this on a level with the Eucharist. But it does seem to have a similar effect. Every time I get to bask in the glow of people who I know love me with the love of Christ, I am renewed. Even when I go through the struggles of life alongside others - helping and being helped, praying and being prayed for - I am renewed. There is no doubt, I have been blessed with a lot of renewal this year. Thankful.

Yes, to quote the Facebook phrase, it was a great year. One great year - just one. May God grant that I will sense his purpose in 2015, as I did this year.

Happy New Year!

Congratulations, Brooke!

Today my youngest niece graduated from the University of Alabama. I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am of her. As of today, Brooke is a nurse. She has decided to spend her life working with very sick children, which is to say that she will be the hand of God to them at the time of their greatest need. What an awesome thing.

I must say I am not surprised; I have seen the heart that led her down this path her whole life. As a child, she talked about getting into medicine because of how she could help people. When she graduated from high school, she asked me to take her on a mission trip instead of a vacation, and led me into the heart of Africa. Everything you see in this blog about my love for the children of Ethiopia started with that trip. I never ever would have set foot in Africa without her nudge - a nudge that I'm convinced was directly from the Lord.

That two weeks in Africa will always be special. It was a time when I got to know her more deeply, because it was the two of us and a bunch of new friends we had just met. We talked about a lot of stuff, and I'm richer for it.

The last 22 years have flown by. And especially the last five. During that time I have admired Brooke's study habits and her dedication to the profession she was working toward.

But we've also had a lot of fun. Trips, family outings...you name it. It has been awesome.

And so, we now turn Brooke Hansen loose on the world. Look out world - you're going to be changed. And like me, for the better...



Love you, Brooke! And congratulations!

Attention span

Graduations are very cool things. For every single person who walks across that stage, it's one of the most important days of their life. Family and friends are there, because they all want to be there for the graduate who has worked so hard for that day.

I attended a graduation ceremony today for the University of Alabama. So first let me say congratulations to my nephew-in-law-to-be (that's not a word, is it?) Drew, who was graduated today with an engineering degree. A major accomplishment, believe me. And he deserves double congratulations, because he will be marrying my niece Macy, one of the three top young ladies in the millennial generation.

So…I was sitting in Coleman Coliseum and the graduation candidates began to file in. It took around 25 minutes for them all to get to their seats. It was quite a sight - rows and rows and rows of young college students (for another hour or so), and for each one of them, this day was huge. I estimate that a little over a thousand names were read in this ceremony. A thousand! And it was only one of three ceremonies that were necessary to get all the students graduated.

So what do you do when you are about to listen to a thousand names being read? Names being read, with no commentary in between, for well over an hour. Well, you can zone out. You play a game, or surf Facebook or Twitter on your phone. You can use your Kindle app to read something. Or you can try to actually listen to every name. After all, the thousands of people sitting in Coleman were really there to hear one name, and one name only, read - their loved one.

I must confess that I go through all of the above every time I attend a graduation. It's hard. I really do even go through a time period where I'm trying to think how important it is for each person and listen…but the mind wanders so easily. The human attention span has its limits.

That's why I am absolutely in awe of my Father in heaven. His does not. For him, it took no effort at all for him to give complete and undivided attention to each and every graduate who crossed that stage. He knows them all by name, has numbered every hair on their heads, and cares about every single detail of their lives. While I'm struggling to listen - in spurts - he is reacting to every single one of them the way we reacted when it was Drew's turn. For him, like us, the ceremony is about the one he came to see. Except…it's all of them!

Hear what the Scripture says about each of them - and all of us…

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

- Psalm 139:1-5

He got that right! Way too wonderful for me to grasp. Yeah, I knew that already, intellectually. I knew it was impossible to grasp how in the world God could know every single one of us personally - and love us. But as I listened to name after name after name after name……………it began to hit me. God's ways are so much higher than mine. There's no point to me ever trying to second guess him.

But I am convinced that it is true. And I am thankful.

Congratulations, Macy!

It's time for another graduation in our family and I couldn't be more proud. My niece Macy is finishing her undergraduate work at the University of Alabama, and will be graduated tomorrow night with an Engineering degree. I am so excited for her.

If I let myself I could get a little bit sad about her and her cousins moving on with their lives. But it's the way it's supposed to be, and so I am looking forward to watching her grow into the woman God wants her to be.

So, in honor of the occasion, here are a few pictures:

"Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then..."

In her element, with the kids in Ethiopia

Dinner in Addis Ababa

20 years old!

The day of her last graduation 

Looks like this building needs some work...is there a civil engineer around?

Bama vs. Florida State

Wow, I could have loaded pictures all night. What memories.

Congratulations, Macy...love you! Looking forward to the rest of the journey!

Congratulations, Haley!

I am so proud of my niece Haley as she prepares to graduation tomorrow. It is bittersweet because she will now begin a new phase of life, and change is never easy. But it is also exciting! I can't wait to see what God is going to through her in the world!

As we prepare for the big day, here are just a few pictures that help remind me how special she is...

Early bowl game (Music City or Independence?) Brodie probably still remembers this.

Family reunion on Lake Murray

On the way to the Bama-FSU game

With soldier at the Roman Coliseum

Say "famaggio"

Florence (not Alabama)

Don't let go, Haley.

Hollywood!

Remember the Rose Bowl.... #13

And #14

Atlanta!

And I could add a hundred more.

Love you, Haley! Looking forward to the rest of our life journey.