Saturday Six - Descriptive Words

So I've forgotten to post Friday Fives again for a few weeks (sorry Rick!). Thus today, I'm posting a Saturday Six and hopefully this coming Friday I'll get back into the swing of things.

So today - six words that describe my 2008 experience:

1. Humbling. More than anything else, 2008 was a humbling year. God has blessed Del Sol Church SO much more than we could ever have imagined at the beginning of 2008, and it's nothing of ourselves. We didn't have some cunning strategy or compelling advertising campaign or anything - we simply focused on our mission and stayed open to the Lord. I have so much admiration for Walter who so many times in our staff meetings talked about how we need to be open to what God wants and that we need to remember that it's Christ's church and Jesus said He would build it - not us. So 2008 was humbling.

2. Victorious. Personally, 2008 was a year of victory for me. There are some sin issues I've struggled with for years and have prayed about and sought accountability about for the last 2 years or so, and it was finally in 2008 that God brought me great victory in those areas. Like the hymn says, 2008 truly was about "Victory in Jesus" for me.

3. Educational. I learned so much in 2008. I learned about myself, I learned about God, I learned about the global Church, I learned about our local Del Sol Church, I learned about my fellow staff members, I learned about my youth volunteer staff, I learned about my youth, I learned about delegation, I learned about my strengths, I learned about my weaknesses. Man, it was a year of a sick amount of learning for me.

4. Relational. All year, but especially towards the end of the year, I really tried to focus on people more than projects. I don't want to be known as an administrator - I want to be known as a lover of God and lover of people, so in I really focused on growing closer to God and closer to others - and that's something I want to continue now in 2009.

5. Surprising. So many things happened in 2008 that I never would have guessed. I never would have guessed we would have a lawyer as our Youth & Young Adults Pastor. I never guessed that I would be out of youth ministry so soon, let along be given the honor and privilege and responsibility of being a campus pastor. I never would have guessed I would've met some of the incredible people I've met, or grown so close to others that I knew but not well. So many surprises in 2008!

6. Honest. I asked for it. Right before the summer, I asked my volunteer youth staff for a "brutally honest" evaluation of me as a leader - and boy, was it brutal. It hurt, but it was a good hurt because I saw how I had hurt those I wanted to hurt the least and how that affected the ministry, so I'm glad that my leaders said what they did. I tried to live as honestly and as openly as was proper in 2008, and I believe God honored me because of my authenticity. Again, something I will continue doing in 2009.



What about you ...what are some words you would use to describe last year, and why would you choose those words?