Thanks

Today will be the last day of the year that I will be posting. My family is spending a week in Steamboat Springs, Dec 22-29. Once we return, I may post from home, but who knows.

With this post, I wanted to thank some people who have supported me and challenged me throughout this past year.

1. My wife, Lona, has to be at this position. Who else in this world would put up with me other than her? She is a great source of support and I love her dearly.
2. My two kids, Madeleine and Ian. Madeleine is growing into quite the beautiful young lady and singer (no help from me...its all mom's doing). Ian is the smartest little guy I know. You can literally spend hours talking about Thomas the Tank Engine with him. I try to mess up the names of the obscure engines and he corrects me every time.
3. Pastor Bobby Holt is the shepherd of Vista Grande Baptist Church (VGBC) and is one of the finest expository preachers in America. He is always asking me about seminary classes and gives me a chance to preach every once in awhile.
4. Pastor Greg Teel is the Children's Ministries pastor at VGBC. We carpool to seminary and have some great discussions on theology, the church, preaching, missions and M*A*S*H.
5. Pastor Jay Hill is the worship leader at VGBC and we spend a lot of time together preparing music for the church services. God has truly gifted this man in how to prepare for worship.
6. Rev. Chuck Conner is the executive director of Christian Missions Unlimited (CMU). He has been like an uncle to me over the last 20 years. He has been a great source of inspiration and encouragement in my life. I hope I can go to Brazil with him for another 15 years.
7. Rev. Rolland Kenneson is the best preacher I know that doesn't have a church. If your church needs a great missions-minded, expository preaching pastor, then this man is for you! He has also been my closest friend since I moved to Colorado 13+ years ago.
8. Randy McRoberts is my second cousin-in-law or something like that. We stay connected, primarily through our blogs. I am always amazed by his wealth of theological knowledge and admire his English (or should I say Scottish) dry humor and sarcasm.
   
9. Colin Adams writes a blog for preachers in Scotland. We have never met, but I love reading his blog every day and listening to the occasional sermon. Keep blogging, Colin! One day I hope to attend one of the pastor's conferences.
10. Natalie Rose (Carter) York is my cousin and she passed away in June from a brief bout with intestinal cancer. I never knew she blogged. I had lost touch with her over the last few years. I deeply regret that. She was a stay at home mom in a difficult marriage with two rambunctious kids, but she dearly loved her Lord and Saviour and had an amazing network of friends in the blogging world. You will know that you are truly loved when a dozen people you never met show up to your funeral and talk about the impact you made on their lives. Wow!

I could go on, but 10 is always a good number to stop with when making a list. Thanks to all for this past year and I look forward to another year of blogging!