hopefully at sunset

2009 in review

while preparing to preach for big church the sunday after new years (or maybe instead of preparing), i decided to make a list of significant events from 2009.

i looked at my calendar which goes back to may, read twitter posts since march, perused sent messages from gmail, reviewed my reading list (kept this for the second straight year), glanced at facebook posts and office wall calendar, reviewed my ‘to do sometime list’ for recent accomplishments (’09 was sparse in this category), and spoke with a few friends.

the process and product have been incredibly cathartic. 2009 was full. and significant. i didn’t know that. i hope to do this annually. it took about five hours. but i am more thankful to God, family and friends for this past year than i ever would have been.

most dates are estimated. favorite quotes and books read are thrown in near where i found or finished them. very little is left out.

i can’t wait to do this next year.

january: received new vacuum from mom and dad; read master, mission, mate because a guy at sdcc told me to; preached at presbyterian church in orange county and felt gifts affirmed; larrivee guitar repaired at factory in oxnard; obama inaugurated as first african american president; created ‘how not to give a mission trip report’ for sdcc missions conference; went desert camping at anza borrego with the grays, clarks and kirklands, and didn’t feel like a seventh wheel;

february: finished the brothers karamazov; hours cut at sdcc to 30/wk, found 2nd job as accountant at crossway fire protection in north park; read obama’s first memoir dreams of my father; wrote four excellent skits for homecoming and realized that i really love writing skits;

march: purchased my first iphone; created twitter account; played froccer for first time - kind of loved it; kyle finds job at ncpc on internet, lobbies for me to leave school; informed i would be laid off at end of school year, dashing kyle’s dreams; prayed that i could be a youth pastor for a presbyterian chuch in san diego, san francisco or austin, tx; used the new vacuum for the first time; began putting my resume together again; easter in castro valley with old friends; nathan finds minh ky in city heights for delicious noodle

april: senate camping trip to emma wood in ventura; attended laker game with dad; interviewed for youth pastor positions at presbyterian churches in san diego and austin; read child of god in one sitting while bored at craig’s in austin; saw dengue fever with craig; first 20 minute interview with ncpc lasts three hours with steve scoville; jay cutler traded to bears; mva video about an entire hall of girls at sdcc being in love with me; lost my bible; preached about righteousness coming only from Jesus in chapel

may: co-wrote/produced second annual year end show for sdcc chapel; hosted second annual senate retreat in ventura; visited getty villa in malibu for first time; got san diego presbyterian youth pastor job; week long trip to cancun; read radical reformission, twilight, the life of pi and crazy love on vacation; robbed at gunpoint, held against my will for an hour, tied up and left in cancun apartment; only actual casualty was stolen iphone; purchased 2nd iphone; got second job at peet’s coffee in la jolla; disappointed with shamwow while washing about 100 cars for first act as youth pastor at ncpc;

june: started both new jobs on june 1; learned to swing dance a bit; performed wedding for nathan and sarah; finished the river why; first annual jr high big bear trip; swim & studies began for youth group; began teaching on attributes of God for third time; kalsbeek twins spend a weekend in san diego splitting time between my apartment in north park and a crossfit gym in ramona; played froccer for last time;

july: moved to encinitas apartment with internet and 3/4 a kitchen; ‘we are not called to be successful but to be faithful,’ mother theresa; met with matt kirkland about a new city gates website for ncpc; hume lake high school summer camp; woke up to five frogs jumping on me; speeding ticket on the way to camp; saw pinback at del mar fairgrounds; ron artest signs with lakers

august: groomsman for nathan and livvy; surfed for first time in 10 years, then three more times that month; taught niece emily to surf at silverstrand in oxnard; sold xbox 360 in atypical adult move; first annual 007 james bond nite for ncpc

september: attended second college football game (go usc!); preached ‘labor of love’ in big church for first time at ncpc; read the prodigal God by tim keller; began preaching through james for the third time; began gospel centered life study with staff at ncpc, best study i’ve ever been a part of

october: ‘most necessary is it that we know (the gospel) well, teach it to others, and beat into their heads continually’ martin luther; preached sdcc’s bible conference ‘God doesn’t need you but i do’; flew through a million miles in a thousand years and was struck by its significance; fresh conference with francis chan and david crowder; preached in big church for first ncpc family service ‘we are family’; ‘we can do not great things, only small things with great love. it is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it,’ mother teresa; read gates of fire, based on same story as 300 but with less gratuitous nipple showing; started making soup once a week

november: turned 33; started playing bass every other week at harbor uptown after five month hiatus; preached at ncpc ‘the love of God’; ncpcfamily.org goes live; mcrib returns to mcdonalds…oh the humanity; watched invisible children with group; joined vision team at church, meetings begin; promoted to shift leader at peet’s; second annual san diego pie night; reread the road, again in only four days, in preparation for its theatrical release; moved from weekly soup to chili

december: finally finished the irresistible revolution after reading most of it this summer; didn’t catch the road before it stopped being shown in theaters; ‘the church is a whore, but she is my mother’, st augustine; attended first ballet of my life; isaac improv boys ryan and tim celebrate their third annual san diego sleepover in my third different apartment; attended adisa’s ‘a black nativity’; attended second ballet; won staff party christmas sweater contest; realized i am a second musician, not a primary leader; acted as pastor to my parents for first time during 90 miunte conversation about mom’s just diagnosed breast cancer; read the outer dark, one of three christmas mccarthy novels from kim; back to soup; realized i have lived in five different decades