10, 9, 8, 7, 6…

Here are a few 2006 highlights for you...

• A new nephew (I love you Benjer)
• God really began to use me in the lives of some of my co-workers (Totally unbelievable. Just be careful what you pray for sometimes. I’m just saying)
• I found out what it meant to pray specifically for someone else for an extended period of time and through this process God constantly reminded me that I am not His primary focus
• I am now volunteering with the children’s ministry at church and I get to spend an hour every Sunday morning with about ten first graders (And I now know what Heelys are – sweet!)
• God totally reworked my finances and showed me the wonderful benefits of sacrificially giving to His kingdom
• I found out that yes I CAN live without TV (except for some sports on the weekend and Laguna Beach of course)
• And I went on my first and possibly last SHORT-term mission trip (I think we all know what affect that had on me)

And where am I headed in 2007 you might ask?

1) More focus on my time management – we are all given 168 hours every week to use and I figure that once we take out sleep and work we are probably down to about 80 hours. I am going to totally re-evaluate how I use those 80 hours and I am going to create an hour by hour weekly schedule for myself.

My main point for doing this is to schedule consistent times for reading the Bible and praying. Too often I rush by these two things and I am starting to realize that they are far too important to rush by anymore. I am starting to see the Bible and prayer not as a duty or something that is going to help me win points with God but as completely necessary fuel that I need to get me through each day.

2) My health – I don’t consistently eat well. Way too many fried foods + not enough regular exercise = not a good outcome. I have a difficult time with this. I have never adopted a joy for cooking, I have never had a need to learn to cook, only one person in my life has ever really confronted me about my eating habits and fast food is just way too convenient and easy. I so need a rule for this one. So what I am going to try is what I was able to accomplish for Lent about a year or so ago. I am going to attempt to avoid fried foods altogether and see what happens. I am also going to add three exercising times on that weekly schedule that I mentioned above.

3) Career Change – We’ll see what happens but I might be moving to South America. Most likely Bolivia but not necessarily Bolivia. This would no doubt be a huge life and direction change and there is a lot to be done over the next 6-7 months to prepare to leave. But at every step of the way so far I have felt God giving me an open door to do this. And as of today I have not hit any major roadblocks but I know they could still be out there. I was just telling Warren yesterday that I catch myself daydreaming about South America more and more. And I have these moments sometimes when I feel this intense longing inside my stomach to be there. Totally out of the blue I just feel sad that I am here and not there. As Warren said, God is up to something in this world.

Little did I know two years ago when I stepped foot back into a church for the first time in a very looooooooong time (Thanks Chris for getting baptized) that two years later I would be considering something as big as a move to South America.

Wow. I can’t wait to read my post NEXT January.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Happy New Year!