Last night my family celebrated the arrival of the new year with fireworks,  family,  and neighborhood friends.  We recalled the last year and even the last decade.  Has it already been 10 years since we were worried about Y2K?  Even more interesting was the observation that New Years Eve was a Blue Moon. 

Blue Moons are the second full moon in a month with two full moons.  They are rare, happening only every few years.  The next one won't happen until August of 2012.  This one was really special.  New Years Eve was a blue moon.  I doubt that a year has ever ended with a blue moon before.   

I think 2009 was a pretty big year for me....and a lot of people.  I became the guardian of my twin sister.  I made a significant change in my work with the church by taking the lead with W@W.    I got a new dog.  My wife got a new job teaching a new grade in a new school in a new state.  I gained 10 lbs.  Gabe made all-stars for baseball.  Its been crazy... the kind of year that only happens once in a blue moon!   My hope and prayer is that your 2010 is a great one.    

Several years ago, I purchased an old Bible at a yard sale, printed in the late 1800's.  Inside were many treasures:  a civil war letter, a ticket to a men's conferece in Birmingham dated 1903, a newspaper clipping from Bishop Candler in the Atlanta Constitution from 1912, and an undated personal Christmas card.  Perhaps the most intriguing to me is the handwritten note inside the cover of the Bible itself:     " In the upper room of house, the Harrison family commits to nobly act and live more for Christ this year than in any other in our lives.  Between the hours of eleven in the evenening of December 31, 1901 and 1 in the morning on January 1, 1902."  

What a wonderful and important time in the life of a family. I can imagine the hugs of a children and the determination of a father and mother.  I can smell the kerosene of the lamp that most likely lit the room that night.  I wonder what had happend in their last year.  I wonder who had died...who had been born...what tragedy they might have endured...what joys they might have celebrated....I wonder.   Yet, they committed their next year to serve the one who redeems the world.   If all the readers of this blog would make that commitment then we could change our world, our futures, and our lives.  That kind of committment only happens once in a blue moon.   

Happy New Year!  

Jack