Last night we attended the feast of Saint Anthony in Boston's North End.  It is quite an experience and one that anyone visiting the city in August should not miss.  But this Saturday night it was just too crowded to be enjoyable.  More people could not have fit into those narrow streets; moving from place to place was almost impossible.  There is plenty of good food and the immigrant flavor of this neighborhood survives strongly along with traces of colonial Boston.  There were surprisingly few police and good order in spite of people packed six inches apart for blocks around.  The  blue "Direct TV" blimp circled overhead in the night sky with its sides lit up with high definition tv images and advertising.

Who thought I would still be alive for the year 2010 back when I could barely imagine crossing the millenial divide. And yet I am here today with a good life ahead of me. In fact with my son Scott and Pam and her girls I have wealth beyond imagining. And I believe there is more to come although I could scarcely ask for more. I do still ask for financial security. And yet God has always provided and I know He will continue to do so abundantly. I could ask for a more distinguished career, I am hoping to become an excellent teacher and I have never given up a desire to be a writer. But in this as well, I believe God will open doors of opportunity that I scarcely expect now. I cannot complain at all about my health. And above all I am at peace with God. I would not mind being young again and undoing all the mistakes of my life, and I am not looking forward to old age and death. I think less about death now than I did as a young man, in part I think because I have come to believe that death is not the end and to know that I have eternal life in Christ. This might seem trite and formulaic on the surface but I assure you that belief did not come easily or without supernatural inner changes.