back and forward

To date, 2008 (that rhymes if you are reading aloud, if you are not, please begin again out loud) has been the most eventful year of all my years. I was going to put together some kind of reflective list of events, but Andrew's wonderful posts on albums frightens me from trying to measure up so mine will take paragraph form.

Even though, technically, Josiah was born in 2007, given the "New Year's Eve-ity" of his arrival I am going to call that 2008. (I don't think I have to use the same criteria as the IRS but I will get back to you on that.) Josiah's life is now officially a year old and I think he's happy with it. For the purposes of this blog, I am happy with it. The process of dad-ing has taught me a lot about sacrifice and love, mostly though I guess from observing his mom.

Also, I graduated seminary in 2008. The prospect of changing degrees from what might be termed (incorrectly, I think) the grand pooh-bah of seminary degrees to what might be termed (incorrectly, I think) the grand pooh-bah's step brother of seminary degrees was actually an easy decision. I had no idea why I was choosing the new direction, I just knew it was a good decision. (See below) I learned much during my time at Trinity. Extra special thanks to friends and mentors who walked with me through the four hardest years of trying to listen and watch for God that I've had.

In retrospect, had I not decided to get a different degree, I would not now live in New York City. The biggest event in our married life involved a moving truck, three large metal pods, a minivan (oh yeah, I caved and got a minivan this year too) full of people and possessions, and enough anxiety to make Joe Montana nervous under pressure. I accepted a pastoral position in Brooklyn, but for the single-digit number of visitors to this blog, you all already know that.

The question I keep being asked, Can you believe you live where you do?, is a common thought in my head. Yet it is testimony to the fact that this life with God is never boring and that we should in fact expect the unexpected. We have made a number of "risky" decisions this year and it is safe to say that 2008 will go down as one of the best of our lives.

Looking forward, I have some goals for this year. I sense some areas in my life that I want to learn to do better. To that end, I have given myself a writing assignment to sharpen my skills with this keyboard. My goal is to make a bit of weekly progress on the project. Thus, the blog entries over the next 8-9 months will likely take shape around this project. Advent was a difficult time to find time to write, but my hope is that I will develop a stronger ability to discipline myself to refine thoughts until they are word-worthy.

Other goals...
1. (okay, I have caved on the list idea) Explore the city...expect some blogging on this.
2. Read, at least, two books a month outside of sermon related reading.
3. Master the art of cooking. (This is probably impossible, but at least master some good dishes and techniques).

That's all for now.

ag