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Here’s my lists of the 5 worst things of 2008

Worst 5 moments:

1. The flooded car. We got to go to Chicago and be a part of Bobby Moss’ last night at Hope. It was great. When we got back, our car wasn’t where we parked it. After some searching, we found where it had been moved after it had been flooded.
2. Sick family members. This year we have had several family members spend time in the hospital. This summer my brother went through surgery for cancer again. After Thanksgiving, Jill’s aunt went into the hospital with liver failure. It has been up and down since. This past week, my grandmother went in. It stinks not being able to do anything.
3. My stupidity exposed. If anyone ever thinks that youth ministry is all games and fun, they have never had to meet with angry parents. This summer I got to meet with some parents that were upset with me (and the ministry). It was painful to hear how I had hurt them without even knowing it. Ugh!
4. Friend’s pain. One night I couldn’t sleep, so I was facebooking it up. One of my good friends was up and we began to chat. Turns out, his marriage had been falling apart, and I was oblivious. Another conversation revealed the deep pain they were going through. Why wasn’t I a better friend.
5. 22 hours on a bus… twice. Challenge was great, and I truly appreciate the help that my friends at First Free in Ames were, but all that time on a bus was brutal, and then having to do it a week later, I was ready to get home!

Tonight we head to Impact with our high school group. Impact is the winter conference that the Central District Student Ministries put on each year for high school students. It is held in Des Moines, and it is always a highlight of the year for our group. I remember going to Impact when I was a student, so going as a leader has always been a little bit funny to me. This year I am busier than ever. I am teaching a breakout seminar on Saturday afternoon. I’m calling it “Youth Group is my altar”. I’ll be talking about making sacrifices and putting God first. We’ll see how it goes and if anyone shows up. I am putting together most of the videos that will be shown. Mostly they are silly countdown videos, but they still take up some time. I will also be one of the emcees for the weekend. We decided to go with the superhero theme. Below is the video I did to introduce us. I will try to blog about what has been happening, but being in charge of 50+ people and doing all the other things may slow down my blogging.

I don’t think I will do an entire recap of 2008 because of time. I might, but I wanted to do a “5 best” post anyways.

5 Best items I accrued:

1. iPhone! I know that I could survive with any phone, or no phone, but my iPhone has been awesome to have. I love having MobileMe so that all my calendars and contacts are synced automatically!
2. 2004 Camry. Our wonderful 1997 Camry was holding up until it was flooded this summer. Thanks to some guidance by friends and our awesome insurance agent, we were able to get into a new car quickly.
3. North Face Jemma backpack. I got this backpack for my laptop because it could hold my Macbook and a few books and more, and it isn’t HUGE. I have really enjoyed it!
4. 24″ iMac. Okay, this is actually for work. The church paid for it, but I get to use it and it has been nice to be able to edit video and do graphic work and not worry about frying my laptop. Plus, a 24″ screen is awesome!
5. Xbox 360. I know that I just got it, but I am already in love with it, and I am wondering why it took me so long to get one!

Best 5 moments:

1. Challenge! Watching my teenagers worship God and share their faith with strangers was amazing. Seeing teenage boys give up free time to read The Bible and pray together was amazing. The spark that this event provided for our group was amazing!
2. Foot washing. We had a night where we actually washed feet with the high school group. Watching an older brother wash the feet of his younger brother made me cry.
3. Elevate. This event has really challenged those teenagers who went to reach out to others in the group and to go outside of their comfort zones. They have really embraced this and our group has been better because of it.
4. 8 years! In August, Jill and I celebrated our 8th anniversary! Sometimes it’s hard to believe it has been that long because it has flown by, but it feels like we have know each other all our lives. I am a blessed man, and I love her so much!
5. Preaching Sick. This fall I had the chance to preach, and I was excited. On Friday I began to feel sick, and by Saturday I was really sick. Sunday morning I didn’t feel any better until I began to preach. I don’t have any other explanation except God allowed me to feel healthy until it was over.

Best 5 websites (that I discovered):

1. I Am Second. One morning I woke up super early and while I was surfing around, I found this website. The testimonies on this site were really moving.
2. Vimeo. I must admit, I just started using this site, but I really like it. A close second would be Blip.tv.
3. Lifehacker. I know that most everyone has known about Lifehacker for a long time, but I just found it in 2008. I love reading all the “hacks”, and finding things I can use in my life.
4. Brusheezy. If you use Photoshop, you want to have awesome brushes at your fingertips. This site gives you some awesome brushes and patterns all for free!
5. Win Every Game. If you play Scrabble (or a similar game) online, like on Facebook, this site will help you out. It may be considered cheating, but you know everyone is using help online!

Tomorrow, the worst 5! Stay tuned!

Jill and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas! Our prayer is that you have a wonderful time with friends and family.

I love movies. One of my favorite thing to do is to go to the Apple website and watch the trailers of some upcoming movies. There are two movies I am really looking forward to seeing. If you have the desire to see these, let me know. I’m pretty sure that my wife has no interest in them.

Terminator Salvation

If you don’t like the Terminator movies, I’m not sure we can be friends. I even like watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox. So, I am really excited about another movie, and I am hoping it will be awesome.

Star Trek

I have never been a big Star Trek fan, but for some reason I am really interested in seeing this movie. Plus it has Sylar playing Spock!

My dad has been in the waste-water treatment “business” for as long as I can remember. It’s not a very glamorous job, but he works hard, and is the best in the business. Recently one of the local news stations (KCCI channel 8) decided to do a “Dirty Jobs” like the one that stars Mike Rowe. Their first stop was the waste water treatment plant in Des Moines. One of the stars of the segment is my dad! Our winning personalities is sort of a family trait. My favorite part is when he pauses to say “you can get messy”. I know there were other words going through his head. I love my dad, and I am proud of him. Enjoy the video, and you can see why I went into youth ministry!

Highlight since last Thursday: On Monday, Jill and I had a couple from the church over for dinner. This was fun, but what made it a highlight was that we had a feast of Armenian food! It was so delicious!

Book(s) I’m reading: I’ve started reading Scot McKnight’s book “The Jesus Creed“.  Honestly, I haven’t been reading a lot the past week, but things are beginning to settle down and I am hoping to get a lot of reading done next week.

Music I’m digging: Honestly, I can’t tell you what I have been digging. I have listened to some Hillsong, and I have listened to some Brooke Fraser, but I haven’t listened to a lot of music this week.

Something(s) that blew my mind: Do you know I have 603 Facebook friends? The crazy thing, is that I actually know almost all of them. Of course I haven’t talked to some of them in a long time. I read this article and it made me think about my own narcissism. I do have an entire folder on my computer of pictures of just me.

Ministry update: We are in the process of hiring a new pastor to join our staff. Last Thursday and Friday I got to spend some time with our top prospect. He is a really nice guy and a really smart guy. I don’t know what is going to happen next, but it is an exciting time.

Something Random: I’ve been growing my beard for a couple of months now, and I was close to shaving it, but I decided to let it grow. In fact, I decided to not cut my hair or shave my beard until the Bears win the SuperBowl. Okay, that might be a little of an overstatement, but I’m going to give it a little bit more time.

Looking forward to: This Sunday night is our Christmas parties for our youth groups. They are always fun. It will be our final youth group night of 2008!

Final Thoughts: Next Thursday is Christmas. I’m not sure that it feels like Christmas to me yet. I am excited to see all my family together at one time. I am excited to see my niece and nephew open presents. But, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas.