Merry Christmas 2020

 

A year ago, I was really looking forward to 2020. It was to be a year of accomplishment and celebration. I was looking forward to running the New York City Marathon. The race was cancelled, but I will get the opportunity to run it another year. I was looking forward to celebrating Bethany’s graduation from North Carolina State University. While she did graduate, the ceremony was virtual and the celebration not what we had in mind. I expected to see my Dad numerous times during the year but went months without seeing him at all due to restrictions. On the other hand, I expected Carl to move to Illinois to begin his PhD program at Northwestern University. Instead he did everything online keeping our family all under one roof for a little longer.

Before the pandemic hit, we did enjoy a few outings. Three of us went to see “Come From Away” in Durham. We really enjoyed it along with the rest of the audience that gave the performance the fastest unanimous standing ovation I have ever seen. Three of us went to Orlando to go to Universal Studios, SeaWorld and Disney Springs. We especially enjoyed the Harry Potter attractions at Universal along with lots of butter beer. I spent two weeks in Poughkeepsie, NY for some in person time with my team at IBM. During the weekend in between, all the girls came out to visit and enjoy New York City. We toured NBC Studios where we saw the final preparations for “Saturday Night Live” later that night. We saw “Wicked” on Broadway less than a week before all the shows closed. We had excellent seats and really enjoyed the show. We also visited the 911 Museum. The presentations are very well done but also quite sobering. We also enjoyed some NY pizza and various dishes in Chinatown. Despite the pandemic, we did take a vacation as a whole family in December to Universal Studios and SeaWorld in Orlando enjoying a whole week together at the parks with a few special celebrations. It was almost a normal vacation except with social distancing, masks, and lots of hand sanitizer. Bethany and Miriam extended their stay in Florida by spending time together at Walt Disney World.

Covid-19 did not affect my job with IBM too much as I was already working remotely. I learned a lot this year and look forward to putting new skills to good use next year. I have had a good year of running despite most races being cancelled. I have run over 1800 miles this year and did compete in an actual in person race running a 30K at a pretty good pace. Leslie-Jean held our house together while also training to run a half marathon which she plans to do when things return to normal. Christian continues to do well at his job at Lenovo while also enjoying his hobbies of flying and improving his drone, electronic audio synthesis, and investing.

Carl had a very interesting year. He travelled to Seattle, Boulder, and Evanston to help decide which PhD program to pursue. Carl decided to accept a very good offer from Northwestern University where he just completed his first quarter. He also had surgery before school started which took weeks of recovery. Bethany graduated in May with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University. Before starting her job with Cree, she made good use of her annual pass to the U.S. National Whitewater Center going there frequently. Bethany also took a quick trip to Walt Disney World. Miriam just completed her third semester at North Carolina State University where she is working on her degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering. She had an internship this summer at Bosch in New Bern helping make their manufacturing of dishwashers more efficient. Most of us enjoyed visiting her in New Bern for a few days with a quick trip to the beach. 

2020 will be remembered for the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19. While tragic, it is neither the first worldwide pandemic nor the most serious. The first and most serious worldwide pandemic was and is sin. Romans 3:23 tells us sin is very infectious as we all sin: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Romans 6:23 tells us sin is very deadly: “For the wages of sin is death…”. Unlike Covid-19, there is no vaccine for sin on the horizon. Fortunately, there is one way that sin is better than Covid-19 – there is a remedy. Jesus has provided the cure for our sin. 1 John 1:2 tells us: “He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” The rest of Romans 6:23 tells us “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This gift started at the very first Christmas with the birth of Jesus. God became man born as a baby in Bethlehem. Jesus lived among us teaching us much along the way. He took the sins of His followers and died for them upon a cross. His broken body paid the price of our sin and His shed blood cleansed us from our sin. For those who accept His free gift of salvation, their sins are forgiven. Instead of death, the result is eternal life with Him in heaven. That is truly worth celebrating!

Hopefully things will improve significantly in 2021. I am optimistic that the vaccines will end the pandemic next year. It will be great to get back to things being more normal. Until then stay safe and healthy and look for the positives among the negatives. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dan for the Colglaziers