First Annual "Bloggy" Awards (hopefully not the last)
In honor of another year coming to an end, I'll throw out my "Bloggy Awards." First, some disclaimers: awards are from a subjective list of candidates (blogs I happen to read or know of), I only spent a few minutes thinking about this, and if you're offended because I didn't include you (or because I did), then sorry, and better luck next year.

Funniest Blog: Tommy Peterson (you can't go wrong with cat turds)

Most Beautiful Blog: Heidi Stokes

Most Creative Use of Verbal Style in a Blog: Doug Citizen

Most "Cute" Blog: Emma Citizen

Most Poetic Blog: Sean Critchfield

Most Often Visited Blog: Joe Boyd (I always use Joe's blog link list to surf! who doesn't, really?)

Least Updated Blog: Gene, the Guitar making Machine

Where I'm Heading
I just finished Wayne Jacobsen's books He Loves Me & Authentic Relationships. Neither are as deep and intellectual as the stuff Phil would have me read, but both speak to what I and those around me really need to hear. I read them partly out of duty to keep Wayne's message alive as part of my role with Apex. Yet, I found them very important to me as well.

"Christianity is a journey into ever deepening levels of relationship and ever-widening spaces of freedom." Authentic Relationships, page 102.

As my friend Mike Steele said about these two books, and I now echo, "That's where I'm heading."

OK, this is weird. Read the entry below this first if you haven't.

Today, just 24-hours after talking to Kyle for the first time in 14 years, I got a fortune cookie at Grand China that read "You achieve great peace of mind when you talk with an old friend." I've never been silenced by a fortune cookie before. It also has lucky numbers printed on it. Maybe I should play Keno tonight?





For the first time since 1989
Today I talked to one of my best friends from high school, Kyle Hanrahan, for the first time since I graduated in 1989. I didn't really intend for that much time to go by, but I found it very emotional and meaningful to be back in touch with him.

I think it is fitting that we are getting back in touch at this time in my life. In 1989 I walked away from everything to pursue a call (I guess, I'm not really sure what that word means) to vocational ministry. I moved away from family, and lost touch with most of my friends at that time. I kind of stepped into a new life on the day I started at Cincinnati Bible College. It has been worth it. I made some great new friends who have turned out to be life-long friends. My relationship with my family is stronger now than it was then even though we are thousands of miles apart. God has used "vocational ministry" to make a huge impact, though now I realize that most of the impact was probably on me. Now, as I continue to work in ministry but to also take classes in a law school, I feel like I have been allowed to return to 1989, in a sense, but this time prepared to be who I am really called to be. It would take pages to unpack what that means, but getting back in touch with Kyle is very fitting. I don't think I'll wait another 14 years to call him again.

Christmas Shopping Greg-Style
In true "guy" fashion, I did my Christmas shopping in a four-hour whirlwind adventure. True, Rebekah does quite a bit of our family shopping (I only buy for her, for my parents, for my brother, and for my grandma). But I do throw in some Apex Christmas shopping -- getting a few appreciation gifts. So, all-in-all, I'm proud of the four-hour mark. I even threw in a haircut. And if anybody getting a gift from me feels hurt that I rushed through the buying process, don't feel too bad. I probably spend less time than that each year on all of the shopping I do for me.

P.S. And I didn't even set foot in the mall!