OK, 25 random things

1. I really love my wife. Pure, exclusive, unconditional love is incredible!!! - has been for over 30 years.
2. Hobbies: fishing, reading, writing, traveling, eating, walking/hiking - best if all can be done in constant succession for an extended period of time.
3. My children now teach me more than I teach them. Besides, they know all my jokes.
4. Technology is useful, even addictive; but technology isn't life.
5. Professional basketball is freak-show entertainment; college basketball (apart from financial & scholarship abuses) is the pinnacle of the game. ... wish I could play like I used to. :-)
6. Southern style iced tea is my default drink of choice.
7. Seafood is a hugely appreciated treat whenever I can get it.
8. OK, I'm a little overweight; but if I ate as much as my wife's fantastic, creative, broad-scoped cooking deserved, I'd be as big as a barn.
9. Ham sandwiches are my staple, like peanut butter & jelly to kids. (this has NO relationship to #8, above)
10. Black pepper makes most dinners better.
11. If America follows European social values and politics, things will get much worse before things get better.
12. Skype is great! I talk to more people around the world on it than I ever dreamed of doing.
13. My office is small; everything is reachable; it can't hold meetings with more than three people.
14. The Bible is the most incredible, penetrating, life-changing, truth-teaching book!
15. My personal relationship with Jesus Christ is core to who I am, what I do, and where I'm going in life (and death!).
16. Fewer, high-quality of anything is better than more, low-quality.
17. The Internet is your friend ... well, AND your enemy ... and your friend.
18. Last year, though I didn't catch true lunker largemouth bass, may have been my best fishing year ever.
19. America is only a great as the resolve of her people to do the right thing, whether PC or not.
20. It is great to be around great people; but I like my solitude, too.
21. Microsoft will choke and decline.
22. It's time to consider another cruise in our future.... sometime ... someday ... :-)
23. Having a strong family is an incalculable blessing from God. Thank you, Lord!
24. Why is there such a huge gap between knowing and doing the right things in the right way?
25. I really love my wife!

Hard things

• waiting
• saying "no" to good things
• getting well when ill
• loving as you should even when you don't feel like it
• picking gracious words when it would be so much easier to just say the same thing with total candor directly
• keeping at the day-to-day stuff when the goal seems so far away
• waiting
• telling someone "no" when you know that they really, really want a "yes" and you love them
• praying for a long, long time for something without seeing the answer - besides "wait"
• depending on others
• long periods of silence
• no Internet, no music, no techno gadgets, no phone
• no money
• no friends
• no family

Now, rather than get totally depressed by all the above, which we all experience from time to time, think of the converse:

• life moves at such a pace that we aren't simply "waiting" most of the time; rather, we are engaged in doing useful, productive, enjoyable kinds of things
• we get to exercise the discipline and discernment that allows us to say "no" to good things so that we can say "yes" to better things; imagine the plight of folks who can't see that and suffer the consequences
• if getting well when ill is an option, then, by all means, it's good and worthy to fight through the "hardness" of it
• the benefits of being loving far outweigh the consequences of not being so
• ditto with how you say what you say
• ditto with how you act and work day-to-day
• ditto with being truthful (with grace) even when it's difficult
• ah, the prayer one: prayer gives hope and a truer sense of dependence; so, it's definitely worth it to leave one's prayers, with repetition and persistence, before a sovereign God Who is the only one that can grant the answer
• depending on others - that's life! choose well who you depend on
• silence, in proper perspective, can be a great gift; use it well
• we all need a better perspective on gadgets, Internet, communication & entertainment tools -- if we're not quality people without them, then we're not quality people with them either. Most people in the world exist just fine without them.
• no money, no friends, no family - that's hard! STILL, if you're conscious enough to know that, then you have enough resources, by God's grace, to earn money, make friends by being friendly, and creating "family" through deepening quality relationships. We allow no quarter to despair and depression!

Hard things! Not so hard, really.