Welcome back. You belong here.

It’s the night before 2008 and all through the house
The little ones are sleeping and my wife and I are watching Hannah Montana on TV at Times Square.
Next year I’m doing a rave: blue hair, blue drink, strobing lights. Can you imagine it?

So what did 2007 bring?

1. Doing Things Together With My Wife. Rachelle and I stopped doing things on our own, which brought a lot of disconnect between us, and we learned to do things together – mow the lawn together, go to IKEA together, drop off the children together, make dinner together, do the dishes together, etc. etc. This has brought a new level of intimacy, honesty and oneness to our marriage. It’s probably the biggest change in my life ever. It is because of this that #2 could happen.

2. We left our church Bethany. After 15 years on staff at Bethany (21 attending for my wife) God called us to leave and trust Him for the future. We feel excited and nervous but as Abraham (Genesis 12), we believe God asked us to leave and follow Him in faith. We feel He has promised to guide us and lead us into something amazing. Our desire is to change the world for Jesus.

3. No one in my family died, was in the hospital, or got crazy sick, which is a first in the last 5 years.

4. Great Shape. Even through quitting and learning a lot about myself, I continue to work out 5-6x/week, lifting weights, running, abs, and eating healthy (5 years).

5. I am not Special. I am Special. I saw myself at my worst this year, in self, and at my best, in Christ. I used to think I was something special on my own. That is false, I am hopelessly lost. I used to think I was not very special, but I am. In Christ I am uniquely made and a gift to Him and this world by His grace and power.

6. Made some headway in my issues with Anxiety. I have dealt with anxiety my whole adult life, but this year, I began to pray that God would heal me of it. He hasn’t totally, and maybe He never will, but I do feel more in tune with the cure to anxiety – realizing I can’t control my life and realizing that I can’t figure things out without God’s help.

That was a full year.

My goals for 2008:

1. Write. I love to write and I think I’m pretty good at it. I need to write a book, I have no idea what it will be about, but I have tons of material. I want it published by NavPress or someone like that. My goal is to eventually write 10-12 books.

2. Work with Mike Silva in Nicaragua/Latin America. Mike is an evangelist and friend of the family. When Mike preaches, people come to Jesus. He has invited me to lead worship with him world wide.

3. Work among Latinos together with Rachelle. Both my wife and I feel part of our new call is to work among Latinos together. My wife is not Latina, but speaks fluent Spanish and loves the culture and so do I. I also feel called to worship and the arts, developing young leaders, reaching postmoderns and living missionally locally and globally.

4. Love our new church.

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT