It is a great thing to be 11 years old. Not too old and not too young. Today is Blake Daniel Crockett’s 11th birthday. Of course all our grandchildren are above average and there is certainly nothing about Blake that is average. He is a vibrant and lively boy who brightens everything wherever he goes. I love his mischievous smile and free spirit. I wish you the best on this special day and may this year bring good things to you and your family.
On Friday, Ann and I had the privilege of witnessing a naturalization ceremony for the first time. Our friends and neighbors, Vladimir and Tamara Khapersky were participants. They are immigrants from Kazakhstan. It was a very good experience. There were 46 participants from 26 different nations. A later ceremony brought the total to over a 100 new citizens for the day.
It was a serious and emotional ceremony. My friend, Vladimir remarked that his heart was racing as he participated. I was impressed and humbled by the oath that was administered.
I hereby declare, on oath,
- that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;
- that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
- that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
- that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law;
- that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law;
- that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law;
- and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
In acknowledgement whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.
I had little objective awareness of the responsibilities of citizenship that are clearly defined in the oath. I wonder how many of us born as citizens would be willing to take this oath. I am grateful for this experience and would recommend you attend a naturalization ceremony.
Our first born, Joe Carter Ezell, is celebrating his 48th birthday today. Carter is wearing the red cap in the picture above. Congratulations and best wishes for this day and the years to come. I am pleased and honored that you are my son. I love you.
I both appreciate and am challenged by this quote from Eugene Peterson which was cited in a blog post I read this morning:
. . . Do we do it in Jesus’ way or do we do it the Wal-Mart way? Spirituality is not about ends or benefits or things; it’s about means. It’s about how you do this. How do you live in reality?
So, how do you help all these people? The needs are huge. Well, you do it the way Jesus did it. You do it one at a time. You can’t do gospel work, kingdom work in an impersonal way.
We live in the Trinity. Everything we do has to be in the context of the Trinity, which means personally, relationally. The minute you start doing things impersonally, functionally, mass oriented, you deny the gospel. Yet that’s all we do.
Today is a special day. Wilmore is having “Christmas on Main”, Meredith is dancing in a Holiday Revue and The Nutcracker. We a have a beautiful snow that us blanketing everything. Auburn is playing for the SEC football championship and a berth in the BCS championship game. Kentucky is playing North Carolina. But all of that pales into insignificance because today is son Clark’s 47th birthday.
Happy Birthday! Clark.