Looking back at 2018 and looking forward to 2019

As I look forward to ringing in the New Year at Timber Creek on our BreakThru retreat with Taylor and my 8th grade boys D-Group, I always like to review the memorable moments from the past year.  Each month brought back great memories from a busy, fun-filled 2018 for our family:

Jan – Dutch’s 50^thbirthday celebration in Las Vegas, Fri 1/5 – Mon 1/8. Went to 4 shows: Matt Franco, Blue Man Group, Criss Angel, O at Bellagio; rode zipline at Rio and Big Apple coaster at NY casino.

Feb – Orlando for Cheer Nationals for Taylor’s JV AHS team.  We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort again (Thu 2/8 – Tue 2/13; Dutch returned Sun).  Friday at Magic Kingdom; competitions on Sat (3^rdplace in Nationals), but they won Worlds on Sun.  2/16/18 - Nicole’s 13^thb-day dinner at Firebirds with Courtney. 2/24-25 - Weekend trip to Baton Rouge; met my parents at Katherine’s and visited with all the cousins.  Went to TX-LSU baseball game with my dad at Alex Box stadium.

Mar – The girls took a quick Spring Break trip to Little Rock (Sun 3/11 – Tue 3/13), and we had a family day on Thu downtown (Big River Crossing, Jerry’s sno cones; Grizz game)

Apr – Nicole’s 13^thbirthday trip to LA 4/5-8 on Cindy’s bday!  Nicole met many of her YouTubers at the Rock Your Hair concert in Anaheim; Full day at Universal Studios and touring Hollywood.

May – Celebrated Taylor’s 15^thbday with 2 concerts: to Beale St Music Fest to see Post Malone on her birthday, and later in the month to see Justin Timberlake at the FedExForum with her friend Rachel.

June – Funeral for Cindy’s mom on 6/21; Taylor went to Camp Bear Track for 2 weeks on 6/24; bought new Yukon on 6/28; beach trip Perdido 6/30 – 7/5; and back to AR on 7/6 to pick up Taylor.     

July – Summer baseball trip to Denver/Houston 7/24-29 for 5 Astros games and traveled to Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs.

Aug/Sep – wrapped up a busy summer with a new AC unit installed, and Gommy & GP came for a visit the wknd after Labor Day.

Oct – Celebrated our 21^stanniversary dinner at Stoney River.  For Fall break, Taylor went to beach (though cut short due to hurricane in Panama City).  Later in the month, Cindy went to San Diego for a CA girls trip, and we went to Nashville for Tyler-Lauren’s wedding.

Nov – Taylor’s state cheer tournament in Murfreesboro, and we stayed an extra night for Rik Emmett’s last tour at City Winery in downtown Nashville.

Dec – on 12/21 we drove to Dallas to spend Christmas early with my parents and Vicki, Paul, Emily and David.  Drove home on Christmas Eve for dinner at the Wingett’s, and Christmas lunch with her family at our house.  Dutch and Taylor to Break-Thru at Timber Creek 12/30 – 1/02.  

Some memorable movies from 2018:

I Can Only Imagine, Ocean's 8, Mission: Impossible - Fallout; Indivisible (and not so memorable: 8th grade)

Books I enjoyed reading:

Astroball by Ben Reiter; Republicans Buy Sneakers Too by Clay Travis; Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game by Rob Neyer (just started in Dec and sure to make next year's list!)

Concerts I enjoyed seeing:

Brandon Heath/Big Daddy Weave at Faith Baptist Church; Foo Fighters at FedEx Forum; Eric Johnson at The New Daisy; the aforementioned Rik Emmett concert at City Winery which marked the 11th time we've seen Rik in concert over the past 20 years.  

So, in looking ahead to 2019, I'm looking forward to beginning all of my days in God's Word as I embark on reading the One Year Chronological Bible.  In 2010, I read thru this Bible in a year for the first time in my life and I remember it being a transformative time for me as I was going thru my first career transition and God spoke to me clearly and continually during this year of change which also lead me to beginning DownLine in the August of this year, and to my next job (at FOX13) in the Spring of 2011.  

As I read thru in 2019 a resource I'll be using is the daily devotionals and weekly podcasts from Chronological Bible Teaching.  I've always enjoyed hearing Iva May teach the story arc of the Bible thru the 14 eras of God's big story, so I'm looking forward to receiving CBT's resources in my email each day to help keep me on track and attain greater understanding of God's Word.    

In closing, just this morning I read a verse which I'm adopting as my theme verse for 2019:  
"I rise before before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word." ~ Psalm 119:147 NIV

Reviewing 2017 and looking ahead to 2018

In recent past years I've made time on New Years Eve to reflect on the past year and write about goals/resolutions for the year ahead.  This year was different as I rang in the New Year in Pulaski MS serving as a small group leader of my 7th grade boys D-group at BreakThru'18  Timber Creek camp.


Taylor went last year for the first time, and this was my first opportunity to attend with my D-group.  As I prepared to leave (our group from CUMC consisted of 86 students and adults; we departed Sat 12/30 and returned on Tue 1/2/18) I ran across this verse in the OT which I adopted as my New Year's verse, which proved to be fitting during my time at BreakThru.

Ezekiel 40:1 "At the beginning of the year...the hand of the Lord was upon me."

It was a memorable retreat as the gospel was clearly presented each night by our speaker Adam Robinson from Double Oak Church in Birmingham, and David Cooke, the leader of this ministry which has been putting on this retreat for 40 years.  It felt strange not spending New Year's with Cindy for the first time in 23 years (or not popping open some champagne for the first time in probably 30+ yrs), but both Taylor and I agreed that next year Nicole needed to go with us!

So, a quick look back at 2017 - a year in which Cindy and I celebrated our 20th anniversary, and the Astros won the World Series for the first time in their franchise history of 56 yrs.  Indeed, October was my favorite month of the year as October Baseball took on a new meaning for this long-suffering Astros fan of 43 years; a championship dream was finally reached...and it was a thrilling ride to 11 wins in those 18 total playoff games from 10/5 thru 11/1, including two Game 7 wins.  Also packed into October was our annual family beach trip to FL over Fall break. Other highlights from 2017:

• Feb: Family trip to Disney World for Taylor's Cheer Nationals
• May: Cindy was rewarded with a trip to Turks & Caicos where we celebrated her 2016 sales success and her 50th birthday.  On Memorial Day weekend, we took the girls on a family cruise on the Harmony of the Seas which was a great kickoff to the summer.  
• July: My summer baseball trip took me to Atlanta for 3 Braves' games at the opening of Sun Trust Park, and to Houston for 3 games at Minute Maid Park, which was just one month prior to Hurricane Harvey's destruction on my hometown.
• Dec: Quick trip to Dallas to see my favorite band, Dream Theater, on their Images & Words 25th anniversary tour (my first time seeing them since 2000 in Pompano beach FL).  And, Christmas included a visit to Memphis from my parents, and Vicki, Paul and Emily. 

Looking ahead to 2018, a year in which I turned 50 (we celebrated this milestone in Las Vegas, unfortunately we can't leave the aging process there...like they say, "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"), I desire most to grow closer to Jesus, and to love and lead my family with more intentionality and purpose in discipling Taylor and Nicole, and prioritizing communication with Cindy.  I also look forward to growing in my relationship with my D-Group guys as I strive to fully live out the purpose of the Refuge: "by providing a safe place where students can know & be known, and receive Godly encouragement from adult & student leaders."

Daily time in the Word and in prayer each morning is my essential fuel for achieving these goals, and I want to do a better job of journaling and sharing with my family, and others, what God is teaching me in my time with Him each morning.  Three books I'm currently reading help keep me on point in my quiet time: 

 "Life Along the Way - Walking a Year with Jesus" - our church began this one-year study during Advent, and I'm currently in week 7 of walking thru the life of Jesus in the Gospels as they unfold chronologically.  It's good discipline for me to have a Bible reading plan, and this one has a very small number of passages to read each day and also includes a reflection question for journaling and a daily prayer.  The weekly sermons and our Sunday school lessons will follow along with this study so I look forward to more enriching worship experience on Sundays in 2018.

"52 Weeks through the Psalms" - In 2016, I began a journey of reading thru the Psalms after taking a class led by Dallas Pfeiffer on the Psalms, and reading Tim Keller's book The Songs of Jesus.  Last year, my friend Mike Weaver suggested a great daily devotional book on the Psalms by Warren Wiersbe Prayer, Praise & Promises.  And this year, to supplement my readings in the Gospels, I'm reading this book by James Merritt which focuses on a single Psalm to reflect on each week.

"A Gospel Primer for Christians" - the 3rd book I'm currently reading is one I ran across which made J.D. Greear's best books to read in 2018 list.  It's a small book, and it has helped me to focus on a daily rehearsal of preaching the Gospel to myself.  As J.D. suggested..."It may be the best practical application of what it means to keep the gospel at the center that I’ve ever read. I find it works best if you read one small section at a time (only 1-2 pages) as a devotional supplement. Meditate on the words and don’t read them quickly."