General Manager’s Message – December 2025
You Know, There’s Hope
I am truly amazed when I read something in the Bible that prophesies about things centuries before the event occurs. That brings me to the Book of Isaiah.
Isaiah started his prophecy approximately 740 years before Jesus Christ was born, which is referred to in time as B.C. or Before Christ. Isaiah urges the people to care for the poor and the needy, commit to following God’s ways, and pursue social and economic justice. Sounds like more people today need to study the Book of Isaiah.
But he also wrote about the sign of Immanuel. In Isaiah 7:14, he wrote, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Immanuel means “God with us.” Again, in Isaiah 9:6, he tells us that God’s son will be born as a baby and called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” On December 25, we celebrate these prophecies coming true in the birth of God’s son, Jesus, as the Messiah. In this truth, there is hope!
As I write about things in the Bible or types of energy sources and climate change in my monthly column, I would be naive to think everyone agrees with me. But the freedom to express yourself is 1 of the greatest attributes of living in the United States of America. This column is my platform to express my beliefs and insights into the electric industry. The reader can agree or disagree and civilly express their opinions to me.
It saddens my heart to hear the hate speech and attacks toward individuals who believe differently. This evil has led to a Bible-based conservative being murdered in front of thousands of college students and a presidential candidate being shot while at a political rally. If you cannot accept that not everyone is going to believe as you and you cannot discuss your thoughts in a civil manner, then follow the Bible’s guidance. If someone does not want to hear what you have to say, knock the dust from your feet and move on.
We must look toward the Prince of Peace. He fully understands the hate and evil of this world because the worldly hate was directed toward him over 2,000 years ago. But he overcame the worldly hate, and that gives me hope.
We need to take time this holiday season to look at ourselves and our words. Speak or write your beliefs and accept civil debate, but do not call people Nazis or Hitler unless you fully know the history of those individuals or the party that you’re comparing them to.
In 1972, I lived in West Germany. I had a wonderful teacher who believed in showing his students the history of Germany — not just in words but by seeing it. We took field trips to castles, toured vineyards, and visited West Berlin.
But the most profound trip was to the Dachau concentration camp. This camp, the first established by the Nazi government, was originally formed for political prisoners or opponents of the Nazi regime. Later, prisoners included Jews and homosexual individuals. These prisoners were used as forced laborers and in medical experiments, including those to test how long a human could survive in various water temperatures, mainly cold water. I saw the gas chambers where prisoners were killed and later cremated or bulldozed into mass graves. I asked my teacher what caused people to do this. He said, “Pure evil.”
My time at Dachau was 27 years after it was liberated by the American forces in 1945. Let me be clear, there are no places like Dachau in the United States, including Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Please, if you’re going to use terms to express the actions of others, follow the lead of the Wonderful Counselor and express yourself with civility and, most of all, love.
We should be grateful and thankful as the luckiest human beings alive to live in this country. At this time, the United States is the greatest country to ever exist, and I hope we all can agree on that. So, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus as Christians, we are to share our faith. We are all sinners, but we do have hope.
As I reflect on this season, the most important thing in my life is my faith. Merry Christmas to you all.