October 25, 2026

The Certainty of Uncertainty

You and I plan our tomorrows based on experience gained from our yesterdays and an incomplete understanding limited by our todays.

In many ways, I’ve wondered through life like a nomadic gypsy with no distinct destination, just enjoying the scenery. My first three semesters of college, half a century ago, I was paired with roommates who shared the same handicap of having been the sons of parents who probably did too much for us. That fourth semester, I shared an apartment with a fellow who had plans.

Bobby
During the Christmas break of 1975, my roommate, John, bailed on our nine-month lease and declared he was moving out to join some friends who lived across town. Whether that move was due to difficulty in living with someone like me or due to his flighty personality, is unknown, but I was suddenly in need of a new roommate.

My friend, Bobby came to Austin at the beginning of Spring semester and moved in with me. He was the epitome of a Southern gentleman — taking off his hat indoors, opening doors for anyone following him into a building, and showing genuine interest in other folks’ stories.

Perhaps, most important, Bobby had his future mapped out. Since his early teens, Bobby had wanted to be a dentist and improve people’s smiles. He was a biology major with intentions of returning to our hometown after graduation, attending Baylor Dental college, starting a practice, meeting and marrying the right girl, and raising a family — all in that specific order. And, he did exactly that.

In 2020, some well-intentioned researchers working in a biolab in Wuhan China were genetically modifying viruses to create a gain-of-function virus that could attack and destroy HIV. That was a laudable goal but either through arrogance or ignorance, they let the demon escape its box, and three years later, it ended the life of my friend Bobby.

He didn’t retire and travel the country with his wife. He didn’t see his grandkids. He didn’t do the things he’d always planned.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an issue with making plans, but the complex incubator we inhabit is broken, and bad things happen unexpectedly to good people. There is no certainty of outcome in this life. I may or may not even get this email launched. You may or may not finish reading it before that constantly creaking rafter in your attic gives way and buries you beneath a pile of rubble.

We just don’t know what unseen milestones — positive or negative — lie ahead. Maybe AI will wipe out carbon-based life, or perhaps it will bring about a second Renaissance with medical and engineering miracles.

As for me, I’m going to (hopefully) enjoy the snot out of that hamburger I’m planning to have for lunch today and do my best to have an interesting conversation or two.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

— Ecclesiastes 3.12-13

Let’s talk. I’d really like to hear what you have to say, and it might even give me something to write about. Email me at guy@lawsoncomm.com.
I’ll buy you coffee and we can compare notes. I promise not to steal your ideas without permission.

Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

— Henri Nouwen

If you know me, you know this is an out-of-the-box recommendation for me to make. This book was written in 1994 by a Catholic priest (not my first choice in advice-givers). It’s also not available in audio book which is just as well since I don’t recommend reading it all at once. Read a chapter a day. Make notes. Then, reread that chapter every day for a week before moving on to the next chapter. See if he doesn’t significantly impact your perspective on life.