Looking Ahead to ’08

It’s New Year’s Eve – the ball will drop in just less than 20 minutes – and time again to make resolutions and dream
big about the coming year.  Here’s some of what I’m looking forward to
in 2008.

• Ordination: Though my internship runs through August, I
  already have my seminary degree (I graduated LTSP in 2002 – my path is
  a long story, one worthy of an eventual blogpost).  In May I will seek
  Approval for Ordination from my home synod’s Candidacy Committee.  If
  Approved and Called by a congregation, I could be ordained as a
  pastor in the Lutheran Church by the end of the year.  Of course, there
  are many variables in this process (as I’ve learned in my 12 years in
  and out of Candidacy) and the timing is far from certain.  I’ll keep
  you posted.
• Health: My wife, my brother, my best friend, and my pastor
  are all giving me heck about my weight and health.  Once again I begin
  a New Year with hopes and aspirations for a healthier me, yet once
  again with doubts and questions about how to make the changes to my life necessary to lose weight and improve my overall health and fitness.
• Income: My wife begins a new career as a seminary professor
  in January and, God willing, I will begin a career in pastoral ministry
  before the end of the year.  If this happens, it will be the first time
  in our marriage that both of us would be earning full-time paychecks at the same time.
  For the first five years of our marriage one of us has always been a
  student, stipended intern, or temporarily unemployed.  It will be nice
  to earn a fuller, combined income, even at the modest clergy/professor
  levels.
• Daily Prayer: Ever since our third child was born in
  mid-November, setting off quite a change in the Zephyr household – we
  now have a four year-old, a one year-old, and an infant – I have been
  negligent of my Daily Prayer routine.
  For so many reasons I would like to find the time and space to get back
  into that routine and, both intellectually and spiritually, explore in
  ever deeper ways what a life of faith looks like.
• Health: Did I mention that I want to get healthier?
• The Kids: I look forward to watching my children continue
  to grow – I’m not one of those parents who wishes time would stand
  still so that I could capture forever the precious moments of
  toddlerhood.  Particularly, I am anxious to watch Cana – our 1 year-old
  – begin speaking and putting her feisty personality to words; to watch
  Naaman – our infant – develop a personality and begin moving around;
  and to watch Tali – our 4 year-old – continue to grow into a complex
  young girl who loves playing with Barbies and Thomas Trains, who
  already shows glimpses of a teenager’s swagger, and whose cautious yet
  observant manner will serve her well when she enters kindergarten in
  September.
   

So properly speaking I have two New Year’s Resolutions: Get Healthier and Pray Daily.  If I can get a handle on those two tasks, I think I’ll enjoy the other items on my list that much more.

A Happy and Blessed New Year to All!