2006 Christmas letter from the Peck family

December 25, 2006

 

Merry Christmas from Randy, Julia, Caren, and Robbie Peck!

For the fourth year in a row, I started the year with a new theme verse from the Bible. In 2006 my theme verse was- “Please, show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18b). The key message for me was “On my knees, I find refuge” - a song I heard sung twice by Miriam Halsey.

On December 30, 2005, my Christian coaching group met for our second annual planning session for the upcoming year. Each of the four members reviewed successes and failures of the previous year and set individual goals for the upcoming year. This year our team decided to keep our weekly meetings focused on coaching rather than accomplishing big team goals.

The best word to describe this year is TRANSITION. Julia prepared to start an international coffee roasting business. Caren did a semester abroad “studying” in Florence Italy. Robbie learned business and leadership skills while working extremely hard as an entrepreneur painting homes in his first full-time summer job. I terminated my three-year anesthesia contract.

This year Julia and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. I had hoped to take Julia on a surprise cruise to the Mediterranean, but things didn’t work out . However, Julia and I did have the opportunity to take Julia’s mother to Italy to visit Caren for a wonderful nine day vacation.

God works in mysterious ways. In the Spring of 2006, the job Julia loved as manager of Cameron Street Coffee House ended after the sale of the building where the business was located. But Julia’s interest to roast coffee didn’t die. Julia asked God for a clear sign if He wanted her to bring the business to our home. God gave her that sign. Then began a six-month test of my patience and persistence as we converted part of our garage to a roasting room. According to Julia, I passed the tests. Julia plans to start roasting coffee before Christmas.

One of the top highlights for us as a couple this year was hosting a marriage LIFE group in our home. For about five years I had prayed that Julia and I would be able to attend a marriage course together. God answered that prayer in an amazing way by bringing an extraordinary marriage course right to our home to take with close friends. The nine week course is called “The Marketplace and Marriage Connection”. I believe God will use this course to transform marriages around the world.

For the past several years, I have said Julia’s two greatest passions were fitness and graphical design. This year, Julia’s graphical design passion took a back seat to starting her own coffee roasting business. Julia has been more focused this year, not doing the variety of part-time jobs like in the past. She has been an active member of Soul Purpose Church. She is sharing her faith and reaching out to help others grow.

Julia is in great physical condition. She continues to be one of the top athletes in her age group for both running races and triathlons. For the second year in a row, Julia was the regional champion for the Xterra triathlon point series and qualified for nationals, although she didn’t go. For the past three years, Julia has served as race director for the Calorie Burner 5k run/walk in Culpeper in November. This year’s event called “Run for Daniel” was the most successful, raising money for Daniel Garcia.

In May 2007, Caren will graduate from the College of William and Mary with an accounting major from the Business School. It’s hard to believe she’s in her fourth year of college. For the Spring semester, Caren did her very first study abroad in Florence Italy - the art capital of the world. For eight weeks in the summer, Caren stayed with her grandmother while doing an apprenticeship with Cherry, Bekaert, and Holland, a large accounting firm where she plans to work when she finishes college.

Robbie is 19 and in his second year of college nearby at the University of Virginia. That’s where Julia and I first met in 1977. Robbie’s major is systems engineering, which seems very practical for the business world. Robbie learned business and leadership skills while working extremely hard for College Works Painting in his first full-time summer job.

My favorite daily and weekly habits are my daily morning quiet times, my walks and talks with Julia, my weekly coaching group meetings, and the weekly Pray Culpeper meetings.

Some highlights for me this year included many answers to prayer, learning to listen better to Julia, honoring my father and mother with frequent visits, starting daily devotionals on July 1 called “Your Daily Blessing,” initiating Culpeper’s very first Global Day of Prayer service, and bringing special visitors to Culpeper. Our guests included the entire Heeren family, Jack and AJ Serra, Jeff Bernstein, Joseph Umidi, and Dan Tingley.

My favorite meetings this year included the International Transformation Network meeting hosted by Harvest Evangelism in Brooklyn New York in April, the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries (www.icwm.net) roundtable in Virginia Beach in late August, the Transformation North Carolina conference in September, and the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville Kentucky in November.

While in New York City for the International Transformation Network meeting, God connected me with Jeff Bernstein. Jeff is a messianic Jew and the founder of Gates of Zion (www.gatesofzion.net). In addition to becoming a good friend, Jeff opened my eyes to the importance of blessing the Jewish people.

Matt Gregory, my pastor and long time coaching group partner, told me my greatest gift is being a LIFE coach. He said every coach has their unique strengths and that two of mine are uncommon ideas and being a great connector.

In his message called “Insights about Life,” Rick Warren shares that “Life is a series of problems; you are either in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.”

Low points for me this year included failure to achieve many of my annual goals established at the start of 2006, insufficient time spent with our kids, and no summer family vacation because of difficulty coordinating everyone’s work schedule. Recently Robbie told me to write down my strengths and weakness. He shared that two of my greatest weaknesses are focus and saying “No.”

The most profound thing that happened to me this year was my decision to take a sabbatical year in 2007. In obedience to the Holy Spirit and in faith, I’m stepping away from my favorite anesthesia job ever, expecting 2007 to be a year full of extraordinary miracles.

When you get in alignment with your assignment, God’s provision will follow! My assignment is to power network the Judeo-Christian networks around the world to unite God’s army. In 2007, my focus is to bless marriages and unite God’s army in Virginia as we celebrate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the birthplace of English-speaking America.

Blessing to experience the love, joy, and peace of Jesus!

Dr. Randy Peck
To see photos of our family and friends for the year, click here.

To sign up to receive my daily devotional, visit www.yourdailyblessing.com.

To learn more about how we can help you with power networking, visit www.peckwebs.com.

To order fresh coffee from Julia, visit www.worldbeanroasthers.com.

To learn more about living A Life of Blessing, visit www.alifeofblessing.org.

Why do I need God?