The 3 R's...

Well, my friends, we are here. Here being the last day of the year. Since Christmas, I have had the past week to do my favorite Rs: Rest, Read, & Reflect. I haven't done much writing, as all of you can see; but I have been doing a lot of reading and a lot of thinking.

Christmas was phenomenal! Lots of great food and good conversations. For my Christmas present this year, I got an electric blanket. Since moving into my new home, I have discovered my bedroom is the coldest room in the house. My blessed parents came to the rescue; and now more than ever I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning! :-)

Business was great and the weather was mild compared to last year. Last year was the big snowstorm that was beautiful to look at but a pain to travel in. This year, the weather was wet but warm.

RESTING
Like I was saying earlier, I have been doing a lot of resting. Since Christmas and for the next month, business is slow. People go on their diets after Christmas, they get their credit card bills in the mail, and make New Year's Resolutions to cut out sweet & join a health club. So business is really slow till February when love & romance overrule all the January thoughts of discipline. It is the rhythm of life. I am quite aware of it and so I choose to take full advantage of the rhythm.

READING
Speaking of rhythms, I also have a rhythm of reading. I am always reading something; but there are seasons where I read greats amount of material and then there are seasons where the written word is just a bunch of letters on a page. I am in the feasting season right now. I am pouring over a book that I have mentioned here before, The Mystery of Christ. I have always been a huge fan of the grace of God. But, man, this book is rocking my worldview!! How scandalous the type of grace this author is suggesting God gives to us!! I am hoping that this book will challenge me to see God for who he really is and not who we try to make him out to be.

REFLECTING
2005 was a good year. It was a tough year with new challenges never faced before. Nevertheless, it was a good year. God continues to shower his grace & mercy upon me.

The community of Christ Followers I am a part of continues to grow both in maturity and in new life. For this I am thankful. Community is tough. No doubt about it. It pushes you. It pulls you. It forces you to think of others besides yourself...preferably before yourself. Community is tough; but it's worth it. I would be a sad version of what I am and what I am striving to be if I was doing this life alone.

I had the blessing to travel back to Washington State twice this year. Both times was truly a time of renewal for me. For all of you up in the great PNW, know you guys are in my thoughts & prayers every day. I take you guys every where I go.

I am growing into an entrepreneur & employer more and more each day. These are tough roles to play but I think I'm wired up to play them. In many ways, I am taking what I learned as a pastor and applying it to this new business endeavor I am undertaking. Business like ministry is always boiled down, no matter how you look at it, to relationships. I still do not have the authority to hire & fire; but I do have the power to give recommendations. Just recently, I gave my 2nd serious recommendation for a co-worker to be fired. In our industry, most of time when employees leave the company it is the result of self termination (they quit) or of lay-offs (the economy determines the size of the labor force). The day before Christmas Eve was something totally different. I have a crew of 5 coworkers that I personally oversee. I have developed friendships with them and I consider them to be my responsibility. So when a co-worker not in my crew came in the day before Christmas Eve, exploded, and verbally threatened physical harm to one of my people, I went pastoral or parental! No one threatens my people...that's my job! :-) Seriously, though, things like this cannot be tolerated, especially in these days that we find ourselves in. So I immediately went to my employer (my father), and not knowing how he would respond to my recommendation, I explicitly & sincerely recommended this employee be fired for their actions. In less then 30 minutes, there were out the door! Anyhew, I tell this story just to show it's never a dull moment; and that my learning curve has been sharp this year!

To those who really know me will laugh when I say I think I have aged 10 years this past year. With buying a house, I have made a very concrete statement that I am here to stay...at least for a couple decades. This past week put another nail in the coffin of my youth. Whenever I came into some money, the first thing I would fix my targets on would be some techno gadget. But with a house now, what did I buy? I bought a couch! AH!! I am definitely getting old! I'm just going to past 29 and go straight to 30!! But let me say, I bought a VERY NICE couch! I'll take a pic and show you when they deliver it!

My health has been blessed this year; but I have had my challenges. My tongue paralysis started back in June and whether the nerves have regenerated some or I have learned countermeasures, people say I sound better than when I did back in June. This is still emotionally difficult for me to deal with; but I am doing better. I also have had some other health anomalies to deal with this year; but all-in-all, I have had a very healthy year. Thank you, Jesus!

See, I guess I really do need to write more often so that I won't ramble this long when I do write. I do apologize for the great length of this post. I leave you with a picture I took yesterday. I feel it is truly a reminder from God that he is a God that keeps his promises. May you celebrate tonight the highs & lows of 2005 and may you toast to God and to one another the highs & lows we are about to embark on in 2006! Amen, amen, so be it, amen! Blessings!!