Decades of decades and Two-Aught-Ten

Yes, this is a belated decade recap post, a year-in-review AND a year-in-preview - all in one! Though it's belated, that doesn't mean that I spent a lot of time working on it. I just am slacking and wanted to write this before I write about LOST before the season premiere. Go!

The Aughts

Start it off with the season of Jason Bowden, when we were both at DMACC, we went to Mexico together and we generally became really good friends. Then it was the school year of 908C. This was my first room at Trinity, with roommate-extraordinaire Josh "Nibbles" Smith. There was a lot of Tony Hawk, SLC Punk, watching Todd dance, throwing stuff off the balcony and other hijinks. The summer of Aught-One was spent in Boston, interning with the Boston Project. It was a summer of learning that I hated short-term ministry, falling in love with the Red Sox, learning to live in the heat of the inner-city, mowing a lot of lawns and generally figuring out what Micah 6:8 means.

Thus began the glorious stretch of time that is known as 104. The first year of 104 was full of drama and passion and yelling and love and singing and dancing. Actually, both years of 104 were that way. And they are probably the greatest two years of my existence thus far. Pretty amazing really. Mostly it was about learning to live in community, about the giving (or not-giving, unfortunately) of grace. Even though things are great in my life right now, I will always miss those years. In between the two years I went to Europe and traversed throughout Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France. I still dream of Garmisch, so beautiful. The summer after the second year of 104, I interned at Valley Church, meeting Lynette and the intern turkey, I got to know Brandon and Jennifer, and, of course, I built some shelves. Even though I wasn't living in 104 that last semester at Trinity, I still consider it within the confines of the 104 era. Think of it as a spin-off.

Then was the not-as-bleak-as-it-seemed time of moving back home. I was miserable at the time, but now I realize that it wasn't that bad. Even though I felt lonely - missing 104, I was surrounded by great folks: JBo was back in my life, I met Katie and it really was then that Overbay and I became such great friends (via the ol' free nights and weekends). Eventually I found a place in student ministries with Brandon, and that's really when things seemed to get better. And those, to me, were the glory years of VCSM: Lynette writing skits, laughing with JBo, Ryan Tow, and Brandon in the back, Tim Ryder being awesome, watching movies with Lynette afterwards. It was about this time that I met the future Meister Sanchez, and he and Lynette then convinced me to move to Portland.

When I moved to Portland, in the summer of Aught-Five (almost five years ago?? Wow), I really didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to do something, and studying theology seemed like a good idea (it was). Like most eras in my life, I didn't fully appreciate it until afterwards. It was such a great experience of living with Mr. Tucker, falling in love with Wilco, not really having a winter, enjoying all that is Portland, and living in a near-adoptive state with the Sanchezes. It really was a good year, but for various reasons I moved back to Des Moines, and slowly fell back into being miserable. I was, in my heart, without a church, but I did have a community from Valley in the Barker Thursday nights. That's when Jennifer and I became good friends and I really got to know Brandon. Which was really the highlight of those ten months or so.

Vocationally, I needed something more, so I decided to return to my first choice of colleges - Iowa State. And so I moved to the Wilson House and lived amongst the beautiful chaos that reigns there. I got to be part of a several great groups of people (CG, the Larson study, Wilson residents) and for a couple of years I got to live with relatively little responsibility. It was good and not good at the same time. Towards the end I realized that to live the life that I wanted I needed some responsibility in my life, which prompted me to move back (again) to Des Moines. And with that move I embraced a new group of people at Westwind. Honestly, it was a great way to end a great decade. It signified a number of new beginnings, beginnings that hint at a less-transient life than this past decade. My hope for the next decade is to establish for myself a home. I think, at this point looking forward, that it's a real possibility in the Aught-Tens.

Year-in-review

I'll be brief since I just put you through all that. Last year at this time I was growing unsettled with my time at the Wilson house. I loved living with those guys, and I loved not having any real responsibility. And that, as I have come to realize, is why it became necessary for me to move. But those last eight months were great. The place was cleaner with JJ living there. There was the basement skatepark and watching "Yeah Right" repeatedly. And the embracing of Main Streeet, with 212 and the Grove Cafe. I still miss those days sometimes.

The opportunity came up to move to Des Moines and live with Jake and Kelly, and I took it. In moving it meant that I needed a new community around me, and I found that at the Tow home. It began with being a movie night and it morphed into a connection group. Laughter abounds in this group, but it isn't without great depth of study and friendship. I have developed quite a number of solid friendships in the short time I've been part of the group. And yes, there's the girl part of it too. I met Sarah that first night I was over for a movie. And now five months later, we're dating somewhat seriously (whatever that means). That in itself is a whole series of blog posts - in short: it's good, not easy, but a lot of fun. It has been a year of change, a year that hopefully will establish a firm foundation for this next decade and I will recall it fondly.

Year-in-preview

I was thinking about this the other week after reading this post from Donald Miller. What do I want for this year? How to sort all these wants? By body parts, of course:

Brain: I want to read at least a couple of theology books.
Eyes: I want to read at least twelve books.
Mouth: I want to cook more often - and thus eat more of my own creations. Really, to eat better in general.
Face: I want an even better beard - which is tough, because I have an awesome beard usually.
Neck: I want to be okay with wearing scarves more often.
Heart: I want to... well, I wouldn't mind setting a course with Sarah - but, you know, "a man plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps." So, we'll just leave that in vagueness.
Spleen: I want to.. wait, what?
Liver: I want to learn more about the origins and types of beer and Scotch - in a responsible manner, of course.
Hands: I want to continue to serve in some capacity at Westwind, and stretch myself in finding more ways to serve.
Tummy: I want to maintain a weight of 160.
Legs: I want to run two half-marathons (Dam-to-Dam and DSM), some 5k's and the Living History 7 miler. And this will help with the weight of 160.
Feet: I want to travel to new places. There are possibilities in the air of going to a few new places (including new countries and continents), but I'll keep those under wraps for now.
Soul: I want to learn how to better honor this great Triune God that has so blessed my life. Not a "measurable" goal by any means, but good nonetheless.

I feel that this post is both obligatory and goodness, but I'm not sure how I feel about that combination. Regardless, now I can move on to more (or less) important things. you have my love.