I mentioned as I was thinking of ending my old year a friend who would be taken off the ventilator breathing for him on Monday. Sadly, he passed. I say sadly and I have to remind myself that in the condition he may have been left in, it may only be sad for those of us who wanted the "real" Ceph still with us. I believe that Ceph is in heaven or is with God because I choose to believe so, not because I have any particular knowledge of this being fact. If I am right, and you get all the answers to those unanswerable questions we discussed, please send them ahead and I won't waste any one's time when I get there. Not that I believe there will be anything like time as we know it, but just as a figure of speech.

So I told my 20 year old I wanted to be more like Jesus this year and in the wisest of ways, he asked; "how you gonna do that, Dad?". I think Philip Yancey has helped me with an answer as well as a very good friend of mine. This friend mentioned the other day; "you know, I think this new Pope is taking the question "what would Jesus do" seriously". Well, I started thinking about that and thought that would be a great way to be more like him in 2014 and beyond. When Pope Francis hugged and kissed the man with the horrendous deformity (as we would see it), he was simply doing what Jesus would have done. Jesus may have also healed him, but I don't think I will have that authority this year any more than I had it my first 53+ years. I may pray for him to be so, but I believe that is the best I can do and I will. One thing I have discovered is that I must see Jesus clearly and not in some distorted, fuzzy way. In that way, Mr. Yancey suggests Jesus is like the large magnifying glass he uses to read his one volume unabridged Webster's Dictionary. If not centered properly on a word, it becomes fuzzy and distorted. I have to really focus on Jesus through devotional time, His Bible, and the time I spend talking and listening for him. I really should flip that around to listening and talking in terms of my time and it's importance. One advantage Jesus had is that he knew all the answers and didn't need to count to ten before speaking. I should do that very often and, either by choosing not to speak or speaking more calmly, I would certainly be more like him. So for me and for my son, Brooks, I think I will try to be more like Jesus by focusing on him. Seeing him for what I clearly know about him and not spending too much time wondering about the things I don't know. Things like why Ceph had to be taken so young, why children die, why do so many starve, why is there pain in our world? If I think too much about these things, I forget that I know He fed the hungry, He cared for the sick, He was kind to all, especially those who others did not treat that way, He cried, He laughed, and boy did He love!