goodbye 2005! don't let the door hit you.....

“Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go.” —Brooks Atkinson How how that statement on my blog means so much about this year. I can not even begin to tell you how bad this year sucked, but for people who have followed my blog or who know me personally you know. This year started off with me leaving the church that I had served at for 5 and a half years. While my leaving was pretty much my choice, the timing of my leaving was not. Which is what really made it hard. But as I look back on it, I am glad God me out of there when he did. I have been able to see how unhealthy of a situation it was for me there and I was able to put some things in perspective and see a little bit of what God is doing in all of this. Then during the course of the rest of the year I made several churches "short lists" only to come up short! I have gotten to the point where I do not want to hear froma nother church that I am down to their final two, but I want to only hear you have the job! But that will come in due time, I am sure of it. And as I said to someone else that I know of who has gotten a raw deal from their church, "God has not abandoned you, but has you right where He wants you. Now the job is to figure out why He has you where He has you and where He is leading you next." Great words of advice not only to them, but to myself as well! I have also seen how I have gone through the different stages of grief through this and can see myself coming to the end of it. A friend of mine posted this in the YMExchange.com forum that I frequent. Here are the 'normal' stages of grief: * Denial (this isn't happening to me!) * Anger (why is this happening to me?) * Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...) * Depression (I don't care anymore) * Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes) And I can honestly say that I see myself in the last stage there. I am really ready for wahtever comes, even if that means that Kimmy are still here for a while. I did have some grea things happen to me. I have met some really great friends from around the country. In March I met Derek, KT, and Dirk on our trip out to California for the Purpose Driven Youth Ministry conference. Which is also where I became famous! This was the banner ad they have on there. And NO!!!! I was not picking my nose! And then recently I have been getting together with a really cool youth pastor named Adam and his wife. He is actually the one behind YMX.com and the reuniting of the community of youth pastor's that I have been a part of. It has been really great getting to know him and his family. My wife and I have found some great friends and look forward to continuing the friendship! So I say goodbye to 2005, don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out and a hearty welcome to 2006!