Good Bye 2008

2008 is long gone (2 days now) and so is list December. We kind of fizzled out at the end due to traveling and such but we'll be back strong next December with plenty of more lists. I've already got a few ideas.

This past year has been truly amazing. Back in May we started a second gathering of Evergreen in SE Portland and I've been the main teaching elder/pastor there. It's been exciting to get in a routine of speaking a majority of Sundays. I look forward to even more this year as well as finishing up my MDiv program in April (which hopefully will give me more time to write better sermons!). I've been off the past four weeks due to bad weather and spreading out the preaching with other elders at Advent and I can't wait to get back in the swing of it!

I got another great opportunity to do a 15 minute set of stand-up comedy to a sold out crowd of about 350 people in Philadelphia in November which was one of the highlights of my year. I thought after I left NYC my comedy career (what there was of it) was over but this show was really exciting to be a part of and one of my favorite moments of this past year. I wish Kelli could have come with me. I also got offered the gig again for next November. Woohoo!

Another highlight was Kelli and I becoming the new face of hiking with an overly ambitious hiking plan this past summer. While we didn't get to complete near the amount of hikes we wanted to, we did finish the Rock of Ages hike which almost killed us and made us hate even the thought of hiking. After recovering the past three months though I feel like i'm ready to go again this next summer. Time to start planning.

We got to go to a wedding in Florida and two in Illinois and spend time with family and friends, go to many Beavers games this summer when it was 90-some degrees, visit my friends in Chicago and go to a Cubs game (as well as get taken out to a great steakhouse by my friend Jeff), hang out at the Pastors Convention in San Diego last February, had a great birthday celebration with about 20 people at Buffalo Wild Wings, got to hold an African Lioness Cub and a Black Panther Cub on a trip to Southern Oregon which was another HUGE highlight for me as most of you know.

While all of the traveling with my fun wife, preaching at Evergreen, and drinking the best microbrews in the world was a lot of fun, I think my number one highlight of 2008 was probably finishing Hebrew! I got out alive and that was one of the biggest reliefs of my seminary career! I'm amazed as I reflect on all the things Kelli and I were able to do and take part in this past year. Sure, we don't have a ton of money in the bank and we're far from being slaves to the American dream but the experiences we have had this past year far outweigh giving up our lives to make a buck. I wouldn't trade them for the world.

We're incredibly blessed with these opportunities and we look forward to a great 2009 where God willing I will be full-time with Evergreen, finish my MDiv, and quite possibly take on the greatest responsibility I have yet known! Who knows what will happen?