I'm reflecting on the year 2012, how eventful it has been. The year began with my father in the hospital in Augusta, undergoing a triple heart bypass. He has recovered remarkably well in the months since, but the whole ordeal made me realize how the years have flown by. Both of my parents, though in good health, are aging, and that is hard for me to accept. Life is fragile, years are fleeting.
To further that point, my dear friend and brother in Christ, Aaron Smith, died in May after a short but painful struggle with cancer. Aaron had only become a believer in Christ a few years ago, and our old high school acquaintance had become a close friendship. His passing broke my heart, but I rest in the knowledge that I'll see him again.
My wife and I celebrated 25 years of marriage together this past summer, and I cannot imagine spending my life with anyone else but her. I would not change a single moment of our years together, except to have been an even better husband to her. She has been everything I could have asked for or imagined in a life soul mate.
I bought a second motorcycle in September, entering the world of sport bike riding, then promptly traded with a guy named Mike who wanted it. I got two bikes in the trade, a Triumph Sprint and a Kawasaki Vulcan 1500. I am working to get the Vulcan running again, and intend to sell it, starting my side income of flipping motorcycles.
I have begun to write more this past year, articles for publication in motorcycle and ministry magazines. I have four submitted to several national motorcycle periodicals, and two for a national children's ministry journal. I have been working on a book as well, with another in mind for down the road. I hope to parlay my love for and ability to write, into some side profit as well. We'll see where it all goes in the coming year.
So as we close 2012 and prepare for the new year, in spite of the uncertainty and gathering darkness in the world around us, I am hopeful, expectant. I'll turn 50 in the coming year, and hoping to make a coast-to-coast road trip with my childhood friend Lyle, also turning 50 this year. I'll turn 30 years of the ministry in 2013,  and God may open some new opportunities to serve Him as well. I don't know what the new year holds, but I know Who holds the new year. He has led me this far, has opened so many doors, and I will follow Him into 2013.