Welcome, New Year, said Captain Jim, bowing low as the last stroke died away. I wish you all the best years of your lives, mates. I reckon taht whatever the New Year brings us will be the best the Great Captain has for us -and somehow or other we'll all make port in a good harbour.

Be your own master, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal creature.

Let a man then know his worth and keep things under his feet.

Every choice you make has an end result.

What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination.

You can't hit a target you cannot see, and you cannot see a target you do not have.

And if you've got the wrong plans, I don't care how many positive qualities you've got, you're going to end up in the wrong place.

From wherever you are, you can go anywhere you want to go if you pick the right roads to travel.

But God decided to create a world where free will was more important than no one ever getting hurt. There must be something stunningly beautiful and remarkable about free will that only God can truly grasp, because God hates, literally abhors, evil, yet He created a world where evil could happen if people chose it.

Do you think it was part of some plan, that you got shot so you would end up in that church and discover religion?' Bruce shook his head. 'I got shot because someone was willing to exchange the name of an undercover cop for a lot of cash. Ending up in church--God was just kind enough to make something come out of the disaster that hit my life.

No single decision you ever made has led in a straight line to where you find yourself now. You peeked down some roads and took a few steps before turning back. You followed some roads that came to a dead end and others that got lost at too many intersections. Ultimately, all roads are connected to all other roads.

Even when you think you have your life all mapped out, things happen that shape your destiny in ways you might never even have imagined. The coincidences or little miracles that happen every day of your life are hints that the universe has much bigger plans for you than you ever dreamed of for yourself.