Florida's Governor Jeb Bush has retired after eight years in office to ceaseless speculation about his political future. According to today's New York Times, many want him to run for president or vice-president; some see him as the next commissioner of the National Football League. When the question came up recently, Gov. Bush gave Spanish-speaking reporters the answer, "Yo no tengo futuro," or "I have no future." He meant that he didn't know it, not that it didn't exist. He spoke for us all.

Welcome to 2007. We're now in January, named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and beginnings. He was pictured with two faces, one looking to the past and the other to the future. Unlike Janus, you and I cannot see tomorrow, or even later today. But here's one fact I learned over the weekend: it's always too soon to give up on the future. Always.

I usually try to minimize sports references in this daily essay, recognizing that some of you see football scores the way I look at ballroom dancing--fine for Emmitt Smith, but not my thing. However, three games over the New Year's weekend are worthy of mention, if for no other reason than their Hollywood drama.

My football-watching odyssey began Friday night with the Texas Tech-Minnesota bowl game. A dear friend is a Tech alum who is privileged not to receive NFL Network at his house, so he came to mine. We watched Tech fall behind by 31 points, then rally to win--the largest come-from-behind victory in NCAA football bowl history. Now the Tech coach is ready to be Florida's next governor, and the Minnesota coach has been fired.

On Sunday, Janet and I rushed home to watch the Cowboys finally win a game, as the tied-for-league-worst Detroit Lions came to town. Only the Lions refused to cooperate, saddling the Cowboys with their third loss in four games. Maybe the Cowboys will surprise the favored Seahawks in the same way this weekend (but I doubt it).

Then last night I watched the greatest shocker of all as tiny Boise State upset mighty Oklahoma, using the hook-and-ladder to tie the game and the statue-of-liberty in overtime to win. (If you don't know what those plays are, don't feel bad--the Sooners didn't either.) Then the Boise State star running back proposed to his head cheerleader girlfriend on national television. Hollywood would be embarrassed to write this stuff.

As your year begins, you might adopt this motto: Yo tengo futuro. You have a future, no matter what the skeptics might say. In fact, it's as bright as the promises of God.

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