Happy New Year!

Happy 2010! It seems like yesterday we (well crazy people) were rushing to Walmart loading up on supplies for Y2K. Yet here we are 10 years later still kicking butt. I can't wait to see what people will do come 2012... was that even a good movie? Whether we're on the brink of eminent doom like back then or it's just another New Years celebration, I love the holiday.

It's a chance to restart, set new goals, and re-evaluate your life and where you're headed. My friends and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant ran by a sweet German lady, go figure. While waiting for food and enjoying my first glass of decent wine in awhile, I had brought up a memory from the same time one year earlier. I think its fun to note how I brought in the previous year each New Years. Last year I celebrated with all my best friends from home up in the mountains of CO. On New Years day my good buddy Steve Hemphill and I some how managed to wake up early and hit the slopes of Copper mountain... I thought to myself, what a way to start the New Year on the right foot. 2009 had its ups and downs but life was good then and life remains good now. The best part about reflection is that I'm sure the last thing on my mind while bombing Copper Mountain was that I'd be in China exactly one year from then. A year is a long time, and many things can happen. People may fall in or out of your life, Cupid might strike, death may happen. It's truly a blessing to be able to roll with the punches and simply take life as it comes, day by day, week by week, year by year. So although I may be in China with a new group of friends (who I hadn't the slightest clue as to who they were a year ago) who's to say that I'll be here again in one year? Life has its twists and turns; all I can say is learn to twist with it. So if 2009 was tough for anybody, just know that rough seas will pass and brighter days always lie ahead.

I'm excited for 2010, mostly for my time here on the East side of life. I'm hoping to venture down south to Saigon, Vietnam, then trek back north through Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. Then I'll start teaching March 1st and will try to earn back all the money I've blown while unemployed these past few months. My teaching term will end July 3rdish to which I am hoping to travel some more. My ultimate goal during this time is to climb to the Everest base camp in Nepal and possibly the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. We'll see if that happens since it will be Monsoon season but who knows. Once done traveling, I am hoping to have found a career starter and return back stateside. It's been an amazing experience here so far, one I could see myself continuing for some time, however I refuse to pass up a great career opportunity if one presents itself. Since a few have begun to develop, I am really hoping that I can capitalize. If not, then who knows what the latter half of 2010 will hold in store for me.... the biggest lesson has been allowing God to work in my life. I pretty much just let Him push and pull me where he wants me; and honestly, I think that's about all one can do with their life. It's not my will but His; and although I've just mapped out a fairly detailed YEAR with some direction, I know that I can scrap it completely if something arises. One of my favorite professors at PLNU used a quote from Eisenhower, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Like I said, it’s important to have direction… but once your course is set, be prepared to adjust to the winds.

I hope everyone has made new goals/resolutions to work towards and that we have stuck with them through the first week of this New Year. I encourage all of you to stay positive, look forward, and good things are going to happen no matter where you are! May it be a blessed New Year… Cheers!