The days grow short and dark, especially in Seattle this time of year, and my thoughts naturally turn to endings, to what we have accomplished and what is yet to do. I reflect on choices made and roads taken. Perhaps my mood is intensified by the passing of Professor Phillip Johnson last month. He was and will remain one of the great foundations of the modern intelligent design movement.

Choices made — the choice to turn my hand to this work and these people. I am well aware of the seemingly overwhelming bastions of academia arrayed against us, which in large part hold us in disdain. I don’t have a particularly tough hide. I am cautious when telling ordinary people I encounter what it is I do. Sometimes people are puzzled, sometimes intrigued. Only a few times have I encountered hostility. But the voices of those who write or come up to me at conferences, saying what a difference something has made for them, those voices remain with me and warm my heart, and for them I give thanks.

Many Landmarks

Together we have accomplished so many landmark things this year! Books like David Berlinski’s Human Nature and Marcus Eberlin’s Foresight were published. These are enduring gifts. The video series Science Uprising was a challenge to the status quo aimed at younger people. Scientific research: my project on human origins concluded in a paper called “A Single-Couple Human Origin is Possible.” Other work in mainstream labs is ongoing and progressing well. The Summer Seminar on Intelligent Design continues to draw talent and yield good fruit. If you know any students or postdocs in the sciences or humanities, applications are open!

Three Waves

To return to the beginning: at Phil Johnson’s memorial service we spoke about first and second wave ID advocates. Steve Meyer, Mike Behe, Doug Axe, Paul Nelson, and Jonathan Wells have been in it practically from the beginning. They and others are the first wave. I came later: I and others like me are the second wave. With the Summer Seminar graduates, we see the third wave, several of whom were in the audience at the memorial. One is now a professor at a well-respected college. Another is visiting faculty at a research university. A third has helped to write a book for high school students explaining some of the major arguments in support of ID.

These people represent the future. Your support in the past made them possible. Your support now will help to build the future. It’s not just for ourselves we thank you. But for the hearts and minds you’ve touched this year.

Photo: Christmas in Seattle, by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay.