Jimmy Cochran Columnist

  As we end up one year and look forward to another, I would like to take a moment for a personal look back at 2012 and the things for which I am thankful as well as, perhaps, a few that I hope will not be a part of another year.

  I’m thankful that the Mayan calendar was wrong and that we are all still here. For better or for worse, at least now we all have another chance to get things right.

  I’m thankful for my new involvement with the Tybee Bar Church. Those kind people refresh my heart and soul in their live streamed services each week and by reinforcing in my heart what “church” is really supposed to be about. They do it well. Plus, they are letting me come back in February to speak again, so I must have done something right.

  I’m thankful for the Monday Night Supper Club and for the support and friendship we have shared for many years now.

  I’m grateful for my love and gift for music. As Albert Einstein once said, “Life without playing music is inconceivable for me. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music … I get most joy in life out of music.” In my own life, music can lift me from the drudgeries of the daily events and give me hope … give me joy …. give me happiness.

  I am thankful for the Henry County Library System and all the many good, kind, friendly, yet, sometimes quirky patrons that we serve in all five branches. I love to read and the library satisfies that passion along with the ability to discuss books and authors with a lot of interested people. It’s way cool.

  I am grateful for living in Henry County and McDonough. We have our growth issues, but it is a good place to live and grow up. I’m thankful for the many business owners that manage to hang on in our cities and provide us with the best opportunities to shop and eat local.

  I hope to never see a year again filled with so much ugliness and evil. From the national elections to our own local county races, I was disturbed by all the trash and anger that was dominating our airwaves, computers and media. We now have a chance to start again, as a county and as a nation. We have a new presidential term, congressional terms and (locally) new county and city leaderships. Support them. Let them know if you don’t agree, but do it nicely. In the words of Patrick Swayze in “Road House,” just “be nice.”

   I hope that there is never another year of such evil violence and death in our schools, movie theaters and public places. Never. May we all learn and grow from what we have lived through in 2012.

   I do not want to have another year of illness and death in members of my churches, community and circle of friends.

  As always, I’m thankful for The Henry County Times and the family of staff and writers that care so much about this County and the people.

   In closing, I am most thankful for the family God has given me. As I have said before, my family is the reason I grew up in church, why I came to a knowledge AND relationship with God and learned how to live according to God’s plan for my life. God has also given me a close circle of friends, both physically and in cyber-land that have enriched me so much.

  May the God of Abraham, Jacob and Moses bless all of you this coming year and give you peace. The peace that only God can give.

  And for today my friends, this has been the gospel according to Jimmy.

 Jimmy Cochran is a resident of McDonough, author, musician and Minister.