7 Cool Things That Are Only Getting Cooler

Made it through nearly a whole week of a new year. Here are seven cool things from 2018 that will only get cooler in 2019.

One-Older Children
When you have little kids everyone always rolls their eyes and says, ‘just you wait.’ Then when you have four girls people practically fall over themselves to tell you how awful it’s going to be.

This is a good thing to do, because basically you go into the whole project of raising children with your expectations in Sheol. ‘This is going to be awful,’ you say to yourself every year, ‘everyone says so.’

Then some of the children turn thirteen and instead of the insane tragedy you’re expecting, it’s like someone opens a window and lets air into a close, breathless room. It’s as if they, the children, suddenly become human—rational, interesting, funny, thoughtful, diligent, helpful, able to lift heavy objects, able to read interesting books and talk about ideas and stuff. 2019 will deliver up to me one more teenager, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Two-Kuwinda
If you remember a few—or many months—ago I popped off to Kenya to check out the prospects of a tiny tin shack preschool, and came back most encouraged. These twenty children and their teacher, against all odds, are meeting every day and learning the essentials—reading, writing, math, and stories about Jesus. With the meals provided by a few generous souls, the children are healthy, and their mothers are able to work and earn what income they can in the mansions that surround the slum. But we (the small group of us here in the US working with the newly formed board in Kenya) are as worried as ever about their long term prospects. We want a proper floor for them, and a window, and light so that they won’t have to learn in the dark. And we want help along the cook and teacher, and be there for them, if not in body, at least in prayer and the practicality of money. If you are ever looking to cast a few dollars into the far reaches of God’s kingdom, click here. But mostly pray, because that has already worked wonders.

Three-Catechesis
I’ve been doing Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for a while now. I don’t even know how many years. I’ve made materials, mended materials, tweaked lessons, rearranged rooms, rearranged binders, dug candle wax out of prayer cloths, lowered myself evermore painfully to sit on the floor with the chubby fingered babe who is eager to move little wooden sheep in and out of the little wooden pasture. My own youngest child isn’t long for the atrium—which is going to be a curious kind of death—and my oldest has her eye on being allowed to come back in—which is a curious kind of rebirth.

If you’re anxious about the spiritual life of your children, do Catechesis. It’s the magic that makes all the difference.

Four-the Pelicans
One of the all-time coolest moments of 2018 was the launching of the Pelican Project. After thinking and praying and working on it for so long, it was quite thrilling to see the group go public and I am eager to see what God will do in this new year.

Five-the Internet
I knock the internet a lot, most particularly in the skewering of Mr. Zuckerberg who seems to me to have some sort of messiah complex. But like everything, it’s not all bad. Two things were good about the internet in 2018, as usual. The first was all the interesting people I met and got to know. And the second is all the fascinating things I got to read. It’s not all cat videos and dummy memes out there. There are some thought-provoking long form pieces, some great, funny, intelligent writers, and also a lot of ways to waste important time, a gift that can never be completely discounted. If you looked at a log book of my actual time, you would see that I loved the internet in 2018 and that I’m looking forward to its continued charms in 2019.

Six-Binghamton, or rather, my House
Binghamton is enjoying some small revival thanks to the enormous university that is slowly taking over every corner, and the various temples to healthcare that dot our graying, settled landscape. There are a lot of ugly places here, but more and more there are interesting places to eat and places to go—and, more importantly, the people are quirky, fantastical, and strange. To cure any unsought bout of homesickness, I have only to go wander around walmart and marvel at all my fellow men—and creatures. But the thing that has been so sustaining, so consoling about living in what often feels like gray desolation, is this warm and beautiful house. Even though we have knocked her about for two and a half whole years now, she has lifted us up out of any bleak discouragement, has framed the dour landscape with effulgent light. Now, if only she would Self Clean—that would be the ticket for this new shiny year.

Seven-God
God was pretty great in 2018. He didn’t do everything I wanted him to, and he was mean to me a couple of times—almost unforgivably so—but on the balance I’ll have to go ahead and affirm that he was basically good. I’m still alive, for starters, and also everyone I love is still alive, which isn’t always the case when a new year rolls around. And I’m pretty happy about the fact that I have food and books and stuff. As usual, I’m asking God to make 2019 33.33% better than 2018. I don’t want to get above myself, or go full bore prosperity heresy. But I won’t lie. If God really wanted to make me happy, he could improve my spiritual, emotional, and material life by about 30%. And that of the people I know and love.

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