This is a strange time to reflect on the last year, but it seems right to me. We have had a ton of changes and here are some of my his and lows of the last year. Looking back, I see some of my lows as leading to some of the greatest hi’s.

Some of my favorite insights from Erwin McManus were:

- “your failures are your biggest gift to others” and

- “if you haven’t failed, you probably haven’t tried something big enough!”

We certainly have attempted a lot this year, and we have learned a ton in the process. Here are a few of the His and the Lows.

His of the year

1. Shiloah’s birth

2. Hannah’s 2 year old birthday party

3. Working through really difficult questions with my wife to build a deeper trust than we thought possible.

4. Finding CRM and a calling worth giving our life too

5. Almost getting eaten by a cheetah

6. Preaching my first sermon in a church-building in Kenya with a bomb hole in the top of it

7. Drinking hot chocolate and eating free pancakes on the beach in Florida with Hannah

8. Having a romantic cup of coffee at the Royal Mara with Jason

9. Finding a friendship with Joseph

10. Getting tons of help and spending time with my family again after two years in California

Lows of the Year

1. Shoveling our own poop into a hole I dug in our own yard after our septic tank broke.

2. Our air-conditioning not working when we moved into our house in mid-July and seeing Hannah sweat like me at in two-a-days

3. Some of those tough conversations with Danielle that we didn’t know when they would end.

4. Realizing how hard our calling with CRM will be to carry out and almost questioning ourselves to death.

5. Realizing we almost got eaten by a cheetah.

6. Sweating through my first sermon at Visio Dei in a nicer building.

7. Getting rejected from working at Starbucks. (I’m glad that happened by the way, just for the record)

8. Not having that cup of coffee with my wife.

9. Leaving our life and friends behind in California.

10. Realizing our house was a bit more of a fixer upper than we expected.

I am in Florida with my family visiting family right now and we are having a really good time.

Besides the 3am-4am outburst/hospital trip by Shiloah, today was really great.

A few highlights:

• eating pancakes and drinking hot chocolate this morning at the beach with hannah for 1.50

• watching hannah dig her toes in the sand a thousand times

• carrying her on my shoulders walking near the ocean

• going to see the “big cat” show that included bears, monkeys, tigers, and lions

• watching shiloah walk and try to talk

• taking a boat ride and cuddling with my girls to the sunset

• getting to know my n-laws better

We don’t have to go far to find the treasure we are seeking. There is beauty and goodness right where we are. And only when we can see the beauty and goodness that are close by can we recognize beauty and goodness on our travels far and wide. There are trees and flowers to enjoy, paintings and sculptures to admire; most of all there are people who smile, play, and show kindness and gentleness. They are all around us, to be recognized as free gifts to receive in gratitude.

Our temptation is to collect all the beauty and goodness surrounding us as helpful information we can use for our projects. But then we cannot enjoy it, and we soon find that we need a vacation to restore ourselves. Let’s try to see the beauty and goodness in front of us before we go elsewhere to look for it. - Henri Nouwen

Here’s a little intro to how I got connected to NT Wright originally:

When I was a sophomore in college, I sat down with Gerry McDermott to ask him some mentor questions. We had a great conversation for about an hour and half at a coffee shop, and he gave me a few things that have greatly influenced me.

• his general demeanor and way of relating to me- He is a brilliant scholar who has written numerous books and articles, and yet he is willing to spend time with me, listening and getting to know my heart. I am deeply grateful for his genuine interest to get to know and fan the flames of what God is doing in my life. I remember him asking great questions like- how is God working in your life right now? what are you interested in learning more about? what thinkers and writers are influencing you? Rather than assuming he knew what I needed to learn, he sought to learn from what God was already doing in me and spur that on.
• his passionate convictions and compassion–Gerry knows what he believes and why he believes it, yet he has compassionate concern and embrace for those of different viewpoints. He gives me a picture in the flesh of someone who has moved beyond merely valuing “tolerance” to valuing love. As my friend Eric Bryant says, who wants to just be tolerated anyway?
• His ability to give timely advice that stayed with me—–I remember asking him what he thought was important for a leader to grow in understanding the Bible- He said, “let the Bible be the lens through which you see the world. Rather than fitting the Bible into your worldview, understand the worldview of the Bible. Let the Scriptures continue to shape your understanding of Scripture” In a culture where leaders say so many things about the Bible to fit their agendas, this was really important for me to hear at this point in my development.
• And now to NT Wright- When I asked him if there were thinkers who could help me do this, he said NT Wright is helping us understand the Bible in a way that will shape the future of Christian thought and practice.

Thanks to Gerry and the further encouragement of another mentor, NT Wright has been probably the greatest influence on my understanding of the Bible. Before going to seminary, I had a chance to read his three volume work that helps us to understand the message of Jesus in the context of the first century world. His writings continue to influence me to understand the “kingdom” message of Jesus afresh for my life and world by challenging assumptions that I’ve had about the Bible. Although he is a prolific scholar, he also works hard at making his studies accessible. I honestly wouldn’t recommend taking the time to read the big volumes (they are pretty heavy and repetitive at times), but I think every Christian should read the Challenge of Jesus, and many of his articles and smaller books are very helpful.

Even if you don’t agree with everything he says, he will make you think about why you believe what you believe about Jesus.

All that is my intro: Here is an interview with him in Time Magazine about heaven

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Highs

  Shiloah turned one year old this weekend and just took her first steps!

A new friend in our neighborhood just gave me his knife as a symbol of wanting to change his life.

Dealing with conflict and experiencing healing conversations with friends.

An unexpected conversation with a new friend that gave me encouragement.

Seeing grandparents love their grandkids.

Laughing and hugging my grandma.

Having new friends and neighbors share in our birthday celebration.

Lows

My car engine stopping in the middle of the road at 5:15am while going to pick friends up to take them to the airport.

Walking back to my house at 5:15am.

Loosing my house key on the walk home.

Waking my wife up at 5:45am.

High-     Jumping my van at 6am and it working

Low-      The only key to our new car (a sweet 82′ Diesel Mercedes) breaking off in the trunk.

Taking the van to the shop, and now having to get my other car towed, and now call a locksmith.

Realizing my AAA membership expired last month.

Hi-           Renewing my AAA membership and saving tow and locksmith expenses.

Hi-           Getting multiple keys to our car for the future.

L ow-       Locking keys in the house while leaving for dinner with all our family in town for Shiloah’s birthday the next night.

Low-        Leaving the dinner to go track down a key from a friend to get back in the house.

Hi-            My dad coming with me.

Hi-            Finding mystery key in friend’s apartment underneath some other stuff

Hi-            Mystery key working in my house!

Hi-            Eating japanese dinner with my family

I have been very disappointed by America’s coverage of the crisis in Kenya that is continuing even now. I think this is an example about the bias of Western media in regards to conflicts in this region of the world. After doing some research and talking with my friend from Kenya, I am convinced that Raila Odinga’s ODM party planned and trained people for ethnic genocide to take place after the election. When he lost, they continued anyway, and the government looks terrible trying to stop it. Situations are always complicated. I don’t think the current President is blameless, but it is better that he is still leading the country.

One of Kenyan recently writes: We should not excuse those committing the genocide by simply pointing out at the election results. In Kenya we have a saying that loosely translates: “the raging river that you see was once made up of streams.”

Also here is a video from BBC (you need Real Player to play it) that I think gives you great insight both into Western bias and the situation in Kenya. It is 25 minutes long, but worth watching the whole thing if you are interested in this issue. Why are white people often so awful towards people in this side of the world? They basically treat this women like she has nothing of value to say. He makes me angry.

If you are interested in an eye-opening document that I have from Kenya about the training used for ethnic genocide, I have posted it below. If you are interested, please brace yourself.

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Currently, I am taking a course called Foundations of Leadership Development from a distance at Fuller. I am finding the course really helpful, especially as we are implementing some more intentional leadership development in our church community. Today, I listened to a lecture by Eddie Elliston, Ralph Winter, and Ted Ward about the future of leadership development in the church, and it was really interesting on a number of levels.

Two points really jumped out to me:

“seminaries need to move from seeing their roles as disseminating the right information to an invitation of inquiry into the unknown that leads to real discovery”

“you learn best by understanding what you need to learn for what you want to do, and then learning while doing it”

One of the professors said that the “dissemination” way of teaching often fosters dependent and dettached students. This made me think about how we learn. When I learn, it is because I have a vested interest in learning. I remember Erwin McManus saying one time that he made an intentional decision when he became the lead pastor of Mosaic not to “feed people, but to make them hungry.” The best teachers I’ve had are the teachers that help me to see the need to search, discover, question, and expend my own energy to enter into the unknown because my insight and contribution matters.

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Thank you TO and Ely for reminding me that compassion and miracles can come from the most unlikely places!