2011 in Review

2011 is almost done...

i guess it was a year of being sick... and being tired... and perhaps being sick & tired...

It was a year of adjustments...

A lot happened this year. A lot of difficult things. A lot of draining things. A times felt close to God, other times not so much. There were fun times. And God showed up. God taught me. And this was a good year, even with difficulties. God answered prayers. God was faithful. God revealed Himself. And God sustained us. God took care of us and blessed us.

It was a year to watch Halle grow - which made it a great year.
She traveled to LA & Houston, grew up in Indiana... and flew across the world with barely a peep.
She rolled over, then crawled, then stood and walked and began running.
She got a tooth, then another and a third rather quickly... her 4th took a while, but 5-8 came with no problem... and she celebrated a one year birthday with chocolate cake and lots of friends.

Grandmas & Grandpas couldn't be there in person, but they saw her on skype.

My parents did come to visit- finally... and it wasn't as bad as they feared... we mostly went out to eat... but it was fun.


Soo was sick a lot, she even got surgery... i had a bout of pneumonia... and well, we got pregnant again, which led to more fun.


God taught me much of His grace.
He extended grace to me, even though i sinned often, neglected Him, was full of pride, and often selfish.
As a husband and father, i saw how little i loved, how selfish i wanted to be, how little i wanted to forgive - how little i was like Christ.
God never gave up on me.
He has remained faithful. He continually pours out grace.

Furthermore, He taught me of His kindness and His love... towards poor and unworthy... and His desire for me t be involved to show love & grace, to reveal His grace.

Mostly though He made His Gospel even more clear to me... how i often try to earn favor or feel i must by sacrifice and labor... but His grace is sufficient... and it is never about me. God's grace is all i need.

So, 2011 was another good year in God displaying His goodness to me.

i am thankful for friends, for family.
i am thankful for Soo & Halle and the new one on the way.
i am thankful for God's Grace and for Jesus Christ my Lord & my Savior who leads me and takes care of us day by day... year by year.

11 things for 2011

i'm not big on resolutions.... but i do think setting goals is a good idea... and i like making lists... so...


11 things for 2011

1. 11 goals

1.     Read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, Hosea … and perhaps the whole Bible

2.     Study Colossians, I Timothy, Exodus and Mark

3.     Get down to 159 lbs and stay in the 145-160 range (Reduce pant size to 32 waist (maybe 31))

4.     Memorize 100 verses

5.     Pray for 100 different countries… maybe 300

6.     Memorize the 4 Laws, names of the books of the Bible & our SPP in another language

7.     Run a 5K, maybe 10 K or half-marathon

8.     Learn how to cook something amazing

9.     Write/Collect at least 30 devos from Deuteronomy or Write 100 devos

10. meet with a mentor/pastor

11.  Go a week without looking at facebook, twitter or espn

2. 11 books to finish reading (as in i've already started)

1.     Shepherding a child’s heart (1)

2.     His Needs, Her Needs (2)

3.     The ME you want to be (3)

4.     Safely Home (16)

5.     The Good News we almost forgot (5)

6.     66 love letters (6)

7.     Redeeming Love (15)

8.     Trusting God

9.   Sp depression
10.  Outliers

11. An Ordinary Pastor (12)

 

3. 11 more books to read later

1.     Doctrine (7)

2.     Sex & the Supremacy of Christ (11)

3.    Leaders who Last (14)

4.     For the Fame of God’s Name (4)

5.     Marriage builder (17)

6.     Sacred Parenting (10)

7.     A God-entranced Vision for All things (13)

8.     The hole in our Gospel or Irresistible Revolution (8)
9.     Coming Back Stronger (9)

10.   Multi-Cultural Teams

11. Scandalous

( overall in parantheses)

4. 11 guys to invest time with

1.     Corey

2.     Brack

3.     Kevin

4.     Dario

5.     B

6.     Sean

7.     Ken

8.     Marc

9.     Jason

10. Mark

11. Ben

5. 11 things to do with Soo

1.     read parenting book

2.     read marriage/relationship book

3.     read Bible together/devotional

4.     pray together every day

5.     Go on a date every week

6.     Visit some place new together

7.     Pray for nations together at least once/week

8.     Go on a couple of double dates

9.     Cook together for other people

10. Take her shopping

11. Baby-sit

6. 11 things to do daily

1.     morning prayer of submission

2.     journal

3.     read Bible

4.     stretch

5.     pray for some ministry/nation/friend

6.     something fun or read or pray w/ soo

7.     interact with someone besides Soo

8.     some sort of ministry(except on Sabbath)

9.     memorize a verse

10. give thanks and/or sing praise song

11. read and/or write

7. 11 long-term goals/bucket list

1.     Write a book

2.     Write/Collect 365 devotionals

3.     Outline or write summary for every book of the Bible

4.     Go to Israel

5.     Go to Rome

6.     Go to Egypt

7.     Go to the Grand Canyon

8.     Go to Yosemite Nat Park

9.     Start a trend – or maybe get a retweet

10. Run a half-marathon… maybe marathon

11. See a toilet go the opposite direction (S. Hemisphere)

8. 11 things I’m looking forward to in 2011

1.     Our 1 year wedding anniversary

2.     Halle’s 1^st birthday

3.     Enjoying a Sabbatical: reading a bunch and writing a bunch

4.     Seeing our puppy again

5.     Showing my parents East Asia

6.     Taking a trip to Texas?

7.     Taking Soo shopping/doing something that just amazes her

8.     Halle sleeping thru the night Actually, I sleep thru the night

9.     Halle’s crawling…walking

10. Purdue winning the NCAA championship

11. Speaking at campuses

   

9. 11 things to do before heading back to E Asia

1.     spend time with my friends who live 1-2 hours away

2.     call my friends who live in the same time zone or close to it

3.     call my friends in Asia at least once

4.     go to a book store and read for chunks at a time

5.     buy stuff to take back

6.     eat skyline chilli, potbellys, TGiFridays,

7.     contact all supporters on phone or in person

8.     sit down with a Pastor/mentor

9.     share the Gospel

10. go to Purdue – a men’s basketball game & eat @xXx

11. get wings at BW3’s & watch some football

10. 11 movies I want to see

1.     HP7

2.     127 hours

3.     Dawn Treader

4.     The Fighter

5.     The Tourist

6.     Thor (May)

7.     Captain America (July)

8.     Terminator : Salvation (Dvd)

9.     Mummy 3 (Dvd)

10. Amelia (Dvd)

11. Shutter Island (DVD)

11. 11 things to eat before I leave America

1.     skyline chilli

2.     potbellys

3.     Greek food: Greek Salad

4.     Peruvian

5.     Baker’s Square

6.     Bleu cheese burgers

7.     Buffalo Wild Wings – while watching a game

8.     Gino’s East pizza

9.     TGiFridays

10. Souplantation

11. In N Out