1956

Here's a couple pictures of my mom from 1956... If you've seen her granddaughter, Brianna, or childhood pictures of me or my brother Rick, you'll see some strong resemblances.

in 2009

Since I did a post on the highlights of 2008, it seems like I should list some resolutions for 2009. Since this is being posted six days into the new year, obviously one of them is not blogging in a more timely manner :)

Resolutions:

1. Read a book per month. (I have to give credit to Jeremy for this. I saw on his blog he did this last year and thought it was a great idea.) Included in the these projected 12 books for 2009 is Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell, Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris, Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren, Be the Change by Zach Hunter, The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. I have many others I want to read, but instead of listing them here and tie myself down to them, I'll leave it open to be decided later. I probably ought to include at least some secular stuff, too. I will probably post a few reviews as the year goes along.

2. Come up with some ways to attract more non-churched kids to our youth ministry. I like to set goals for my ministry at the beginning of a new year, and I feel like this is an area that God wants me to focus on. At my last church, we were able to draw several students who weren't the typical "church kids" and came even when they didn't have a family that encouraged them to attend. Here we have a solid base, but our influence outside our church is pretty minimal. I think a great test of the health of a ministry is how welcome outsiders (especially those without much previous church experience) feel when they come and get involved. I think this will also help us continue to see several youth baptized this year.

3. Completely finish converting all the slides. As you can see in previous posts, I've taken on the task of scanning all my parents' and grandmother's old 35mm slides and converting them into digital images. At a rate of approximately an hour and a half per carousel so far, it's hard to explain how much time I expect this to consume... I'll just say that my parents bought a terabyte external hard drive to hold them all, and I hope they fit :)

4. Find an alternative to my soft drink consumption (at least partially). Both to reduce my intake of caffeine and calories, I'm looking for something to replace at least some of the coke that I drink per day. Let me just say that I drink plenty of milk already, don't like tea or coffee (not that they would reduce the caffeine), and can't stand the taste of diet drinks. I have a hard time drinking much water and get burnt out on juices, so I'm still working on this one. Let me know if you have any good suggestions. (Oh, and I'm a pastor so alcohol won't work either... not that I could stand the taste or afford it anyway.)

5. Write more. I'm not going to say too much about this one, but I think one of my better forms of communication is the written word. I'm not always a great speaker, but I like being able to rework my thoughts and express myself more clearly through writing. So...

6. Be a better father and husband. There's a lot of areas in my life where I can afford to fail. It's okay if I don't read 12 books this year, drink less Coke, convert slide photographs... or honestly even reach more unchurched youth. But one area I cannot afford to fail in is my family. I am the only father and husband my family's got, so they're depending on me. I admit that when I look back over 2008 some of my biggest regrets are that I didn't spend more time with my wife and kids. I'm happy to be able to impact the lives of teenagers, but I have to find ways to balance all of that over against the needs of the four most important people in my life. I hope that 2009 will be full of "No's" to the busyness and selfishness in my life and many more "Yes's" to Amy, Ben, Will and Kate.

converting slides

My Christmas present from my parents this year was a little different. I told them if they got me a scanner that converted slides into digital images, I would take on the project of transferring all of my parents' and grandmother's years and years and thousands and thousands of slides into jpg images. So, Merry Christmas to me???

Anyway, I think it will be for me like jigsaw puzzles are for my mom. (By the way, my mom is what you might call a "jigsaw puzzle junkie.") Slow and time consuming. Addictive. Painstakingly detailed. Small victories in completed sections. And something to really be proud of when I'm finished. Unlike her though, I have the benefit of not having to undo all the work I spent so much time on when I'm finished.

I also have the opportunity to show off a few of the treasures I have come across along the way (Wasn't I a cute little kid?):