10 for the 2000s: 2007 Personally

1. Going back to Cali: Right after the New Year, we went to California on a cruise with several people from the church. It was all organized by my cousin Shelley. After the cruise, Janelle and I spent a week in Palm Springs at one of the nicest resorts we've stayed at to date. We also went to Disneyland for a day and had a ton of fun.
2. Maasai Night: Our students organized a night to come alongside Caleb Bislow and his effort to share Christ with the Maasai tribe in Kenya. Through a talent show, bake sale, and silent auction, they raised $15,000 and donated almost 100 watches to help with the project. It was a pivotal moment in my ministry life as I saw a new avenue for students to be a part of something bigger than themselves and think missionally on a global scale.
3. The Best Prize is a Sur-prize: Surprised Janelle with a four day getaway to Las Vegas over Spring Break. We stayed at the Mandalay Bay, watched three shows, ate a lot of food, and watched humanity gamble their lives away. We enjoyed it, and decided one trip to Vegas was enough for us.
4. Mexico to Colorado: I traveled with Jason Thompson to El Millon, Mexico to prepare for our upcoming IMPACT trip. Then I got back to Chicago, and jumped on a plane to Colorado to spend three days with Caleb Bislow talking about Unusual Soldiers and the Maasai Project.
5. Red Moon Rising: Read this book and something lit up inside me. It's about prayer. It's about truly seeking God in prayer.
6. Engaging the Silence: I followed up Red Moon Rising with a book called God on Mute. Through that book I began to engage in the pain and frustration of unanswered prayers in my life. At that point, I had no idea what God was preparing me for.
7. 24/7 Prayer: We put prayer into action at NMC. It started at Camp with a prayer cabin where students were assigned one hour blocks to go and pray through the night. It culminated in the 8 days prior to school starting where we had students praying around the clock for the year to come. I learned a lot about prayer and myself in that time.
8. Disney on Roids: Janelle and I took our last "just the two of us" family vacation in late October. We stayed for 6 days in Daytona, then took the leap and stayed for 5 days at Disny on-site. We didn't rent a car. We only used Disney transportation. We ate all our meals on site. We dreamed with a little more reality about what it might be like to have a kid with us when we were there.
9. Prayers Answered. Katylynn entered our life. Everything changed.
10. It's such a significant event, that it deserves two spots on a list of ten.