Happy Easter!

For those of us who count ourselves as Christians, the celebration of Easter is on a par with Christmas because it recalls Christ's victory over death and the gift of eternal life for those that try and follow the precepts He gave us. You'll note the operative word: "try". For even the most devout are still human and subject to the whimsy of fate; tests in life that can be met with acceptance or rejection of God, assuming of course that you believe He exists.

It is difficult for me to understand how people go through life with no expectation of an "after life", but I know there are many people who feel that way. Regardless of how we view eternity, most people still try and follow basic rules of community, compassion and civility, much to the betterment of our society.

This Easter has been very special for us. Many of you are aware of my struggles with depression after the death of our daughter Bethany. This Easter is special because my wife has now officially joined the ranks of the Catholic Church. Some months after Beth died, our young grandson asked "Mima" why she wasn't Catholic like Aunt Beth was. After a dismissive reply, my wife started to consider the fact that all of her encouragement to the children regarding faith would have more of an impact if she herself began an investigation of her own.

Throughout the past year, as her sponsor, we meet on a regular basis with four wonderful women who work with people looking to convert to Catholicism. The beauty of joining my wife on her journey has been the reawakening of my own faith, which in turn has made our marriage of almost thirty years stronger than it has ever been. It has also served to refine my focus on life from what seems to be important to what really is important - God, family and reaching out to those who are in need.

This focus prompted an action this week that will alter the course of my life. I notified my employer that I intend to retire as of 10-31-08 after 25 years with the company. The main reason for my retirement is my desire to be home with my family, not out on the road 3 or 4 nights every week. There is no way I'll find anything that pays me like this job does, and I have no prospects whatsoever, and I couldn't be happier.

Sounds kind of crazy doesn't it. It's been a long time since I've to prepare a resume, and I don't know how many people are looking for a 56 year old who's looking to start a new career, but I have no doubt that the Lord will provide as long as I don't sit around on my butt waiting for Him to do everything.

Easter represents a new beginning; a springtime for the soul. I wish each and every one of you the joy and freedom of faith, what ever your guiding principles are, and I hope you and your families draw closer together than you ever have been this Easter.

Thank You Mr. Spitzer

Let me first state that everyone of us is a hypocrite. At some point in time we have all acted in a manner that has caused us shame. As you may have heard before, you can tell a person's real character but what they do when they think no one is looking. I am of the conviction that people are basically good, regardless of whether they profess a religious belief or not, but we're all capable of being human - imagine that.

I'd like to thank Mr. Spitzer for doing the honorable thing. When you build your career on prosecuting a particular crime at the same time you're partaking in it, it doesn't lend itself to political stature. Mr. Spitzer, regardless of what you think of his politics, is a man that is now in need of prayer.

I can only speak for myself, but true remorse should be met with love and compassion. Reconciliation for the family is his primary focus in life right now, and I hope the love that his family has shared for many years will sustain them.

We all can be redeemed.

Winter Fun

It's Sunday morning, the clocks are forwarded, and the power has at last been restored - for now. Mother Nature decided to have fun with some of us here in Lewis County: rain, freezing rain, thunder and lightning, snow - then the trees and branches paid homage to Sir Isaac Newton, eliminating power on and off for most of Saturday, and then conking out for good around 8pm last night.

So while the power lasts (never any guarantees out here in the boondocks), I thought I'd share some of our Saturday evening with you. My son is home on a college break, daughter #3 was here, and we had two grandsons over for the evening. When the power went out, candles were lit, heat was no problem (until very early Sunday morning - by then the house had cooled considerably), so I went upstairs and grabbed my guitar. For the next hour or so, we sat in the living room singing songs.

I'm afraid I was unable to cover many of the requests from my grandsons, because I had never heard of any of the artists they wanted me to play. When they wanted a Beatles song I had them covered, but we decided that since the world already has Kid Rock, I might as well be Geezer Rock.

Just one evening without power, and you get somewhat of an idea of how our ancestors lived without power. With power, everyone had their own little world: me on my laptop, my wife on the PC, the boys on PS3 (that's Playstation 3 for those of you who don't have kids around), my daughter watching TV in her room. Without power, everyone joined together and we had a great time spending time with each other.

We humans tend not to see the downside of things that make life easier. In this case, the advent of microchips and satellites have enabled us to do things we never dreamt of 20 years ago. As we sail along on this sea of new inventions that give us a lot more free time, I guess its not such a bad idea to take a step back in time every now and then and see some of the good things that were lost as we "progress".

Earlier in the evening we had played "Family Feud" on the PS3 with the boys, but they just lost interest because none of the questions related to an 8 or a 9 year old boy. By reconnecting and remembering the benefits of spending time together as a family, maybe I'll just have to arrange for our own power outages on a more regular basis.