nedsjotw.com

Some of you who receive my JOTW newsletter may recall that for the past
few years I have asked Pat Tracy to offer a blessing that we can all
share, to be thankful for the past year, and offer hope for the coming
year.

Pat and I were roommates when he was serving on the USS Richard S.
Edwards and I was on USS Tawakoni.  He was the best man at my wedding,
and I attended his retirement from naval service when he answered a
higher calling and entered a seagoing ministry.

So I thank Pat now for this blessing, and I thank all of you for your
participation in our global family.

Ned Lundquist, ABC
Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Publisher and Editor,
The Job of the Week
DEFCON-1
(www.nedsjotw.com)

During this Christmas season, as we reflect on another year's close. we
are mindful of the many blessings which have been bestowed upon us as a
people.

We are thankful, Lord, for homes, for family and friends, for lights
that come on at the flick of a switch, for hot AND cold running water,
for enough food for our children – things we take for granted here, but
are anything but “normal” in most of the world.  Thank You for the
blessing of being able to vote, to actually “be in charge” of our
government (and to make changes when we deem it necessary).  Thank you
for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who are -right now- taking
their turn “on watch” to preserve and protect those freedoms for us and
our families.  Thank You that these young men and women, like many of us
did in prior years, see them as not only worth living for, but worth
dying for.  Grant them safety, success in meeting their objectives, and
safe return to their loved ones.

We are a privileged people.  Let us not forget those who don't enjoy the
same privileges, those who are consumed by trying (and often failing) to
meet their need for “our daily bread”.  Let us not just think about it,
or even talk about it, but actually get out and DO something for those
less fortunate than ourselves – across the street, down the block, on
the other side of town, on the other side of the world. (My wife was in
India just 9 weeks ago, providing the 'first' medical care some people
had received since the Christmas 2004 tsunami!)

Thanks, God, for the gift of community you have given the JOTW network –
now friends, colleagues, a network of thousands that has reached around
the world to not only lift each other's spirits, but to help people. 
Thank you for this community; make it even stronger, and more useful, in
2007.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one,

    because they have a good return for their work:

:10 If one falls down,

    his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls

    and has no one to help him up!

Amen.

For His glory,

Pat

Captain Pat Tracy
Assoc. Director, OM Special Projects
641 Rockbridge Rd.
Westerville, OH 43081-3218
USA