REFLECTIONS AT 48 - Life Update

From the excitement of letting the cat out of the bag about our upcoming new church to the realization that this is my first birthday without a message from my Dad, I'm finding myself feeling content and at peace today, overall. Well, I'm pretty excited for this coming year. For many years I've felt like I've been playing baseball using my left hand (I'm right handed) and now I'm on the cusp of switching around to my stronger hand. I had to go through the struggle (and the humility that comes with it) in order to be forged into a person built for the long haul. I've had to keep many of my passions somewhat subdued because my role has been to support others and help them to be great - and when you've spent your whole life being the 'star of the show' this is not easy. It has been the best training of my life.

Life-Updates

Career-wise, I'm thankful to continue my role as staff and worship pastor at NLV. With a new lead pastor coming our way this year, I'm looking forward to supporting the process and doing my part to help ensure a smooth transition.

This past year I'm blessed to have the opportunity to serve as a part time hospice chaplain. This has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Also, over the past few months I've finally decided to play music out in public (outside of the church). It's gone super well, so I'm looking forward to more opportunities to play for fun 🙂

Also, I'm wrapping up my 2nd year of my Master's Degree. I've moved to 2 classes per semester to allow for some more time to do other things, but I'm thankful on two fronts here: 1) I'm thankful that I've been able to do the work with straight A's so far. As a C- student in High School, this is a welcome surprise. 2) I'm thankful that so many things I've learned and discovered over the past 4-5 years (and a seismic shift in my own heart, moving away from the pop-mass-produced consumerism version of the faith to a more rich, more ancient, and more sustainable expression) have been confirmed over and over again by the world-class scholars I've had the privilege of studying under at Fuller. Their affirmations of me have been life-changing. 

Of course, most recently we've announced that we are planting a new church in the Freeland community with informal gatherings starting in the fall. Our meetings will be Sunday afternoon while we are in "mission mode" until full launch at the end of 2023 or early 2024. (more info at www.vineyardonline.org). While the new church is in mission-mode, I plan to continue my role at NLV so I'm not leaving anytime soon y'all! Of course, this will ultimately be up to our new pastor (whoever God chooses), but I know God's hand will be guiding us.

Healthwise, I've never felt better. I'm still slowly making changes to drop some extra weight, but I noticed while renewing my driver's license that I'm 30 pounds under where I was last time - so that's good! Tiffany is such an inspiration on this for me. I have no plans to retire so if I want to be doing things into my 80's, I need to keep doing better with my health. I'm still doing DDPY and dumbbells here at home and I enjoy these exercises. I've also started walking to the store instead of driving (as weather allows). Let's see how I'm doing at 49! 🙂

I'm thankful for all of you that have prayed for me, encouraged me, and have listened to me. Let's see what this year holds! - Mike

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