Where were you when the time ran out on 2008? And who were you with? The beginning of each new year is
always special in my opinion. Even
though I’ve never been a part of the hugest New Year’s Eve parties, there is
just something about the hope of a new year and new beginnings that I always
love. Every year I’m usually with my
closest friends or family or both and for a moment the prospect of ushering in
2009 without them seemed a little sad.
But what you give up for God you always get back a hundred fold. Let me just tell you, a World Race New
Year’s is not one you would soon forget.
Since
our squad was still spread out on the 25th, we celebrated Christmas
again as one big family on New Year’s Eve throughout the day and through the
night til the aluminum-wrapped ball hung with wire dropped from the tree. The tree was about 20 feet away from a
roaring bonfire around which we spent the last hour of the year in worship and
reflection beneath a heavenly clear sky full of stars. Now, I can’t wait to spend a New Year’s
Eve miserably cold and crammed into Times Square someday before I die. And next year when I’m surrounded by
close friends and family again, I already know how much I will cherish it as I
always have. But this was something
special. For about fifteen minutes
of that hour, I spent my time lying on my back a few feet behind the big circle
of the group and just stared straight up at the stars (I can never get enough
of them), quietly reflecting on the year that was, is about to be, and the life
that IS.
Earlier
in the evening, each team performed some kind of Christmas skit after our
five-star – by World Race standards – dinner with candlelit atmosphere. In between each skit, Ben and Emily,
who were the fall-out-of-your-chair hilarious emcees for the night, would take
us mystically back into the past by reading favorite funny Christmas memories
that some of the Racers on the squad had submitted at the beginning of the
month. Also, certain traditions
were incorporated throughout the day, such as a “snowball” fight with wadded up
toilet paper and fighting with “wrapping tubes,” aka empty toilet paper
rolls. And of course, Christmas
would not be Christmas without stockings.
These were made out of our dirty socks, to which we duct-taped our
names, and each person drew the names of three others out of a hat to write a
letter of encouragement.
As
the clock struck midnight – and I thought of how everyone I knew was still
killing time in mid-afternoon back home – I couldn’t really move. Everyone else immediately began
cheering and hugging and as much as I wanted to do the same, I was just frozen
in the euphoria of the moment. (I
was only finally broken out of the trance when Patrick, one of our contacts for
the month who had joined us for the evening, began a familiar song we had used
all month and broke into the African dance which is sure to put a smile on
anyone’s face). In the first blog
I ever posted for the world race, my bio, I discussed how the summation of my life
could be reduced to the single term “blessed.” I felt the exact same again that night, as I often do, and
could merely take in the memory from a few feet away, soaking in every second
of it. It is a memory I will
always cherish and which my grandchildren will know by heart. This is my life. Welcome to the World Race. And here’s to 2009!
