2011 is upon us – Another year is gone and another fresh new year is beginning.

Statistics show that after six months, fewer than half of the people who make New Year's Resolutions are still upholding them. After one year, that percentage drops to about 10 percent.

I gave up New Year's Resolutions many years ago.....I didn't need statistics to realize that I didn't keep them either, in a timely matter. The secret to New Year's Resolutions is not to make a promise once a year and try so hard to make it work. The true secret is to slowly make life changing habits that become a part of your life.

It doesn't matter what the "Resolution" is - - stop smoking, clean the house, lose weight, exercise more, tithe, or save money - - the end result is so much better if you just slowly make life changing adjustments to make it work. Making a promise on January 1 might lead to let-down in a few months. Once the let-down has occurred, the mentality of trying again is broken.

Slowly making changes in our lifestyles makes for a longer lasting effect. Instead of making a "New Year's Resolution" make a "Lifestyle resolution."

As long as we treat others as we would like to be treated and show love and respect for each other, then we are guaranteed a brighter future. (The reason our jails are filled to capacity, across this country, is because so many people don't live by "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.")

The Bible teaches us that we shall receive back 10-fold what we give. For every good deed that you do for someone else, the Lord shall give back to you.

Every day wake up and ask yourself, "Who can I do something for today?" It can be as simple as complimenting someone on their dress, or their smile. You can offer to make dinner for someone, to do errands for an elderly woman, tell someone how much you appreciate them, to baby-sit for a mother that needs an hour to herself during the day, or, instead of hording things up for a garage sale, give your unwanted items to someone who can use them, for free.

Giving to others is what Jesus was all about. That is what we should all try to make our lives into. That is the slow life-changing adjustment that will lead to a much better 2011 and the many years to come.

Happy New Year!

Until then..... I'll see you around the town.

When I was a boy, there were no seatbelts in automobiles. A "car seat" was a play item for a toddler suspended on the bench between his parents. By today's standards, it would be considered very dangerous and child endangerment.

The first seatbelts that I can recall were clumsy items, especially those that automatically operated – close the door and this belt comes back across your neck. We've come a long way since that time. The modern-day three-point harness hooked to an inertia reel is a simple, reliable way to connect a driver or passenger with the frame of a car.

Simple is a relative term. Let me describe complicated for you. Back in my F-4 Phantom days, strapping into the jet was quite an ordeal. My "chair" was not only a seat, but also a means for ejection should an emergency arise. Consequently, it took 12 connections just to secure myself to the seat and my survival equipment. Another three connections hooked me into the environmental control system so that I could breathe, communicate, and withstand high-G maneuvers. As I said, hooking up a modern three-point harness in an automobile is a piece of cake by comparison.

If you weren't properly attached to your seat, the results could be deadly. I knew a test pilot who was flying chase on a missile test over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico when his seat harness fell apart because it had been improperly installed. He was pinned against the top of the canopy of his T-38 Talon by negative G, unable to either control the aircraft or eject. Seconds later the jet crashed with Diz still in the cockpit.

My tractors have seatbelts which I use whenever I'm working on uneven ground or heavy brush. I know that if the tractor tips over, the safest place to be is behind the wheel. Even if I'm tempted in the heat of the moment to jump off a flipping tractor, the seatbelt will restrain me.

Years ago, the Florida Highway Patrol brought their rollover simulator to put on a demonstration for the Madison Rotary Club. In the automobile frame were two, unbelted dummies. It was really remarkable when the machine began to rotate longitudinally as it would in a rollover crash. The dummies were ejected from the vehicle body every time. Buckle the dummies in, and they stayed in the vehicle frame no matter how violent the roll.

Years ago, the Ohio Highway Patrol made a film called Room to Live. The theme was that within the confines of an automobile, there was "room to live" in the case of an accident, but if you were ejected from the automobile, your chances of survival were drastically reduced. The bottom line was delivered by the officer narrating the film: "I never unbuckled a dead person."

I know that seatbelt usage is pretty high, maybe 70 to 80 percent, but there are still stubborn, careless people who don't use their seatbelts. I don't have very much patience with people who don't buckle up. While it is the law to use seatbelt restraints, I'm sure that law enforcement officers have better things to do than tracking seatbelt usage.

When they have to write a citation for a mangled body outside the cab of a wrecked car, it is a terrible and preventable waste.

Here's a good New Year's resolution – use your seatbelt and make sure your passengers do the same.

Wishing You A New Year Full Of Health And Happiness From Our Family To Yours

From the

Tommy Greene Family

and the Staff of

Greene Publishing, Inc.

The first book I read from cover to cover in 2011 has been the book Called to Coach by Bobby Bowden. The book gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse at college football during Bowden's 40-plus years of coaching.

The book is more than a book about college football and even more than a book about Bowden. The book is about a calling from God that Bowden felt that he had to fulfill. He was called to be a coach.

The book details how Bowden shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with his players and coaches. In one chapter, Bowden writes about Pablo Lopez, an offensive lineman for the Seminoles, being murdered one fall Saturday evening when Florida State did not have a football game. He spoke at Lopez's funeral about the faith that Pablo had found in Jesus Christ. He told his team and coaches that he knew where Pablo was and if they wanted to know how to get to Heaven also, his office door was always open. One of the people who took up his invitation was Mark Richt, an assistant coach, who is now the Georgia Bulldogs' head coach. Richt invited Jesus into his heart.

One heartbreaking chapter in the book is about the deaths of his son-in-law, John Madden, and his grandson, Bowden Madden. John and Bowden had been headed home from Tallahassee on a rainy Interstate 10, when they were killed in a traffic crash. Billy Smith, a retired highway patrolman who escorted Bobby Bowden at football games, and another trooper, came to Bowden's house to break the news to his daughter, Robyn, who had remained in Tallahassee with the family following a 19th birthday celebration for another son.

The book details devotionals that Bowden and team chaplain Clint Purvis shared with the FSU team over the years. It talks about how some of the players were able to change their lives during their time at FSU and even about how some of them failed to turn their lives around.

I would recommend the book to anyone, whether they are a diehard Seminole fan like me, or even a Florida Gator fan. I'm planning on reading Tim Tebow's book when it comes out because I admire his stand as a Christian. Bowden has the same stand, so I urge everyone to buy the book, borrow the book (I would loan you mine, but I only have a copy on my Kindle) or check the book out from the library. The book is truly inspiring.

I hope and pray that one day, my calling as a writer, will inspire people to give their lives to Jesus Christ.