Ringing Out 2013

The year 2013 has surely equaled or surpassed other recent years in crazy, ominous, and sometimes positive developments.

President Barack Obama used his second inauguration to declare his intention to continue pursuing a "progressive" agenda. However, the usual presidential second term blues seemed to come on even faster and more intense than usual as the conversation turned to the the alphabet soup of scandals involving the use of the IRS in impeding political opposition and the revelation of the expansion of the NSA's information gathering to include possibly electronic communications made by anyone. And then there is still the ongoing question of what happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.

In October, the partial 'shutdown' of the federal government resulted from deadlocks in Congress and with the Administration over Obamacare, spending and the debt. After the dust settled, it became apparent that Obamacare is every bit the "train wreck" that had been foreseen by many.

International developments included the bloody conflict and gruesome terrorism in Syria and other places and Iran's inching toward possession of nuclear weapons, while China and Russia each sought to reassert superpower status. Weakness in US leadership is not a good thing especially in light of these ominous developments.

Natural disasters were as frequent as ever, from tornadoes and winter storms in the US to the devastating hurricane in the Philippines, along with others that have slipped my mind at the moment.

Developments in science, technology and medicine continued to advance. Expansion into space continued, including the quickening pace on the Mid-Atlantic Space Coast (highlights from April and September), the demonstration of robotic refueling technology and another company announcing an asteroid prospecting/mining venture. The appearance of an exploding small asteroid over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February was a clear reminder that whether or not we go into space, space will come to us.

The other startling event in February was the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI of his resignation from the papacy, the first in ~600 years. His successor, Pope Francis has brought an informality and "hands-on" style that has captured the world's attention. While some hope for and others fear radical changes, there is a fundamental continuity between Francis and his predecessors. Most important is his reminder that our hope is in Jesus Christ and in the Father's Love that will sustain us as we enter into the perilous yet promising year of 2014.