I was speaking with a Christian friend yesterday.

She said, “I think I am such a disappointment to God.”

To this, I replied, “No, you are not.”

It is, I believe, impossible to disappoint God. We may displease Him, but we cannot disappoint Him.

Disappointment is born of unfulfilled expectations. We anticipate a certain day or event going a particular way and when it does not, we are disappointed. We expect another person to say or do a thing or behave a certain way. If they do not, we are disappointed.

But God is omniscient. God knows the end from the beginning. He is not subject to disappointment because He knows exactly what He is in for. He knows what He has in you. He knows your propensities, your proclivities, your defects, your imperfections, your sinful bent. He knows you will fail. He knows you will falter. He knows you will fall short. He knows you will try to do better and mess it up.

Sure He does, or He isn’t God at all.

And yet…He loves you without contingencies, without restrictions, without limitations, without conditions.

This is not an invitation to throw caution to the wind and do as you “damn well please,” expecting God to take his holy broom and clean up the mess you made. No. If His unconditional love, if His saving grace is not motivation enough for you to live to please Him, it is doubtful you have experienced it at all.

Amazing grace is not a ready-made excuse or super safety net for the willful sinner. It is, instead, the tie that binds the wandering heart to Him. It is the bridge that closes the chasm between holy God and (what would otherwise be) the hopeless sinner.

You are not a disappointment to God. You are, according to Calvary, the apple of His eye.

Susanna Kim of ABC News has written a sad, sorry story about former NFL sensation Terrell Owens.

Terrell Owens was despised by almost every fan of every team on which he did not play and by many on the teams on which he did. He was seen as selfish, self-centered, a Prima Donna. In San Francisco and Dallas, he was ultimately perceived as a team cancer. In Buffalo and Cincinnati, he was mostly a non-factor.

But Owens was bright. He was innovative. He was a showman. From dancing on the midfield star in Texas Stadium to hauling out a sharpie and signing a football after scoring a touchdown, Owens incensed the opposition and entertained the masses.

Owens possesses an infectious smile and a quick wit. He is also a special, Hall of Fame–caliber talent. He has all the traits that could have made him beloved by all.

All but one.

Owens never bought into the notion that there is no “I” in team. He always figured the best thing for whatever team he was on was for him to be the focus of the offense and the center of attention.

On the sidelines during one Dallas Cowboys game, Owens was captured screaming, “I love me some me!”

And he did love him some him, but apparently few others do these days.

Kim opens her article, Terrell Owens, the former NFL star receiver who has signed to play for and co-own an indoor football team, is friendless and nearly broke, he told GQ magazine. “I’m in hell,” Owens, 38, said he tells people who ask about his well-being.

Hardly the picture of a man reaping the rewards of an NFL career that garnered him a reported 80 million dollars in earnings.

Hardly the expected testimony of the man who once said, “Getcha popcorn ready, because it’s gonna be a show.”

Kim concludes her article, “I don’t have no friends,” [Owens] told GQ. ”I don’t want no friends. That’s how I feel.”

The sadness of this man is palpable. What a tragedy!

Did you ever hear the term “Good-Time Charlie?”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a “good-time Charlie” as  a happy-go-lucky convivial man given to fun making, hilarity, and the general pursuit of amusement.

Terrell Owens was the NFL’s most colorful Good-Time Charlie. And what is wrong with that, really? There is nothing wrong with enjoying the ride.

Get ready. Here comes my analysis.

Someone has to be the life of the party and if you are that person to whom others naturally gravitate, more power to you. You make them laugh. You make them cry. You leave them wanting more. They all want to be you.

Cool.

But be careful, shining star, of listening too closely to the accolades. Be careful of making yourself the focal point of your own attentions. The crowd is fickle and glory fleeting. When the lights go out and the party ends, it will be those people you loved, those people in whom you invested, those people you made feel important that remain.

Be careful how you party, party hound.

Or, you may end up a party of one in a forsaken dive Owens called “Hell.”

I don’t miss you when we’re apart.

I am just as well without you.

I don’t need your approval.

Your opinion doesn’t matter to me.

You’re just another pretty face.

There are plenty of fish in the sea.

You aren’t the best thing about me.

My every heartbeat doesn’t echo your name.

I  won’t love you ’til I die.

Smell that? It’s the freshy fresh freshness of a brand new year.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I don’t know about you, but I always approach a brand new year with the nervousness of a kid opening his “big” present on Christmas morning. You know what I mean, right? That kid braces himself for disappointment, just in case it isn’t what he asked for, yet he can scarcely contain his excitement, because…what if it is what he wanted most?!

I know you’re nervous and you don’t want to spoil this pristine new thing God has dropped in your lap. Don’t you worry, though. Uncle Gene is here to help you get ready to make the most of it with 12 DOs and DON’Ts for 2012.

Let’s just go ahead and split that down the middle and make it six things to do and six things to don’t in 2012. (Yeah, I know I didn’t get that sentence right, but because I know it, it is my prerogative to write it as I please. Here is an extra don’t for anyone bothered by it: Don’t be so pedantic. Relax.)

Six DON’Ts for 2012

Don’t try to consume the entire thing at once.

The new year will come at you the same way every year before it has done: One day, one moment at a time. Take it as it comes.

Perhaps you heard about the clock that was being treated for a nervous breakdown? When the clock maker asked him about his troubles, he answered, “Well, I just can’t handle my life. I mean, look how much ticking I have to do! I tick 60 ticks a minute. That’s 3600 ticks per hour. That’s 86,400 ticks per day, 604,800 times per week, and 31,536,000 ticks per year!”

About that time, the poor clock sprung his main spring.

The patient clock maker repaired the clock (which was the patient). When he got him fixed, he offered the following advice: “Look, the only way you are going to be able to keep on ticking is to take it one tick at a time. You just focus on this tick and don’t worry about the next tick until you get this tick ticked.”

That clock is still ticking.

Don’t worry about the Mayans and their calendar.

Just because North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are unsettled and just because it is easy to see how a new axis of evil powers could find themselves drawn together, along with China and Russia, for a common cause, that is no reason to assume we are on the brink of a third world war— an apocalyptic war, featuring the kind of destructive firepower never before unleashed on planet earth.

As my Momma used to say: “Don’t borrow trouble.”

About that Mayan society: they also were known for offering human sacrifices to their ornery gods and throwing spears at stuff.

Don’t Reelect Obama.

OK.

You wanted to make history. You were excited to be a part of the only society in the world to voluntarily elect a minority to serve as its chief ruler. You wanted to prove how far we have come. You wanted some of that “hope” and “change.”

Moreover, you bought into the evilness and ignorance of George W. Bush because almost every article, TV program and comic routine you consumed made you feel stupid for electing such a bumbling buffoon.

You were suckered into the biggest electoral mistake in the history of free elections. You elected an un-American communist to guide this great country into socialistic bliss.

How is that working out for you?

Right. So, stop it.

Don’t fall for the “quick fix.”

Pssst. There is no magic pill or formula for weight loss, long life, expanded mental capacity or love.

The world will not be saved by an infomercial.

Don’t go “there.”

Where?

You know. Wherever it is you are dying to go that you know good and well is not good for you.

Don’t spend too much time crying over spilled milk.

Regret is not always unhealthy, despite what the pervasive humanist worldview says.

Too much regret, however, can immobilize— even paralyze— you. Consequently, you may miss the next opportunity while you are beating yourself up over the one you missed.

Don’t miss the next flight just because you missed the last train.

Six DOs for 2012

Get to know God.

I am always amazed at how people profess their “love” for God, but then are satisfied to let others define and describe Him for them.

You don’t do that with your spouse, your kids, your parents or anyone else you love.

Get to know the Great Paradox of Grace and Truth for yourself. He rewards the seeker.

So, seek.

Express your love.

By this, I mean SAY IT. Go ahead. Tell the people you love that you love them. It is as good for you to say it as it is for them to hear it.

Hone your skills.

Whatever it is you are good at, get better. Study your craft. Practice your craft. You’re good, but you can be better.

Right?

Pursue your passion.

A life without passion is a hollow existence. Ho hum. Hum drum.

Snap out of it!

I don’t care if it is model trains, bird-watching or ping pong. Whatever it is you are passionate about, pursue it.

(Unless, of course it is porn or some other unhealthy, unholy, or illegal activity. If that is the case, go back to the first “DO” in this list and start over.)

Make a plan, but be prepared to scrap it.

“The best-laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry.”

In an NFL football game, both teams come to the field with a game plan. Inevitably, at least one of those teams will have to alter or scrap their plan. Still, you will never find a coach that believes it is best to avoid having a plan in the first place.

People who fail to plan are really planning to fail. Plan your work and work your plan. And other cliches…

Be prepared to adjust your plan or scrap it entirely.

You were planning on a fastball. Life threw you a curve. Adjust your swing. Become a curve ball hitter. Whining about how unfair life is gets you nowhere and wearies those to whom you whine.

Fair’s got nothing to do with it. Planning and adjusting: that’s the key.

Discover the wonder.

Wonder is all around you. Look for the beauty and don’t stop until your jaw drops.

If your Wii or your iPad doesn’t blow your mind, then find a waterfall, glimpse a shooting star or visit Big Sur National Park (or Yellowstone, or the Grand Canyon, or the Great Wall of China, or…).

What man has done and is doing is beyond amazing. What his Creator has done and is doing is even better.

So, there you have it: some unsolicited advice from a man you may or may not trust to dispense such.

While you are mulling over the Strother 12-Step Plan, I will leave you with one more little DON’T…

Seven months and counting. That is how long I have been away from home now, working in Mobile, Alabama, doing my thing— or, what passes for “my thing” until I can really do my thing.

I came in May and now it is almost January. I would ask where the time went, but a quick check of the mirror and I can see its tracks on my face.

Christmas this year was a blur. It fell on Sunday, which is always cool. What better day to celebrate the birth of our Lord than on the day the church has commonly called “the Lord’s Day?”

We all have a plane to catch in this land where we are always chasing— but never quite catching— that place we call Tomorrow.

Friday morning, early, I was on the first plane out of Mobile. By 7:30am, I was in DFW and ready to spend the day with Momma Claus doing that last-minute Christmas shopping thing. By day’s end, we had scored an iPad 2 and a puppy, which was pretty cool, since the first represented the hottest new thingamajig on the market and the second represented one of the most cliched Christmas gifts of all time.

We had all of our bases covered and still had plenty of time for a nice evening at home with the girls and Ty David, the world’s number one coolest grandboy.

The pace seemed to pick up from there. We were so busy, I hardly noticed my Dallas Cowboys spitting the bit in yet another December contest— this time on Christmas eve. The Christmas eve service went by in a blur. Then, it was Christmas morning and we were tearing into the gift-wrapped bounty under our tree, trying on our new clothes, trying out our new gadgets, getting dressed and heading out to Donya’s sister’s for just a little bit.

Ah, but the flights back to Mobile on Monday were not looking good. They were all “red,” which has nothing to do with Rudolph’s nose and everything to do with the color American Airlines turns a flight on its website when the chances of a non-revenue standby scoring a seat on a plane are slim and none.

But I had to be back to work bright and early Tuesday morning.

What to do?

Fly out Christmas night.

It was fun while it lasted. But, my friend, it never lasts quite long enough. And that is the point of my story. That is its moral. Live in the moment while you can. Savor the moment. Seize the moment. It is only a moment and then it is a memory.

We all have a plane to catch in this land where we are always chasing— but never quite catching— that place we call Tomorrow.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and pray 2012 is for you a prosperous, healthy and happy new year.

God bless you.