Now that Christmas has come and gone, and I'm sitting here at home in Chicago, I can't help but to look over the past year. One small, but obvious change, is that xanga (which was once a social-networking powerhouse) is now nothing but a ghost town. Everyone has moved on to the next "IT" thing (facebook), and aren't looking back. Kinda shows how we're all fickle, doncha think? We want to go where everyone else is going, making sure that our friend lists are complete. A small part of me misses seeing heart-felt entries by my friends (even though I would skim the really long ones =/) and commenting, letting them know that I read it and that I support them.

Change is apart of life, always has been, always will be. It's been shown time and time again that all of us are against change, even if it's good. As I think this, I imagine my friend Joann cringe when the topic of splitting our small group comes up. She hates the idea of changing the current dynamic that we have, but it's for the best, to grow the church, and to strengthen the people who are apart of the family

I saw Mamasedenochyouout's post about the past 12 months, and while apart of me felt inspired to do the same, I don't want to copy his theme. Instead, I've been thinking about the transformation of my life these past 12 months, and it's been an amazing thing to look back upon, although the refining process wasn't easy. I know I've grown older, and with age comes wisdom, but I feel stupider at times. A while back I kept in my mind to keep a journal with God lessons that I learn, to look back at as time goes on to remember His teachings. But that thought never transpired into an action, and the lessons that I've been wanting to write down have just become random musings. I think that this is the reason that I feel stupider, because I'm not living out the convictions that I had in the past. I have to relearn all these lessons again. I should jump on that journal idea after all...

2008 will be a good year, I have a feeling. It's going to be a year of revival, of people discovering and re-discovering their First Love. People talk about New York as the last place on earth where revival can happen, but a place as dense as New York, with all the close social networks is ripe for a revival. It's bound to happen anytime, and who knows, maybe I've been placed in NYC for such a time as this. I've been reading a book about the rise of Christianity in its early beginnings, and the fact that Christianity rose throughout the Roman empire is an amazing thing. But the way that it went about its growth is not something that's limited to that time period. I'm beginning to believe that the method is as simple as loving one another. If that's done, as it was during the Roman empire by those Christians, then a real revival can take place in a city like NYC. Or Atlanta. Or Chicago...

Until next season (or new year), to whomever is still left... peace and grace.