My Five Favorite Posts of 2007

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. I've been enjoying time in Central New York with my family, and also have managed to get sick, which I imagine is a common happening for pastors post-Christmas and post-Easter. Nothing serious, but I'm feeling pretty overtired and uninspired when it comes to being productive and reflective!

Onward... Every year, methobloggers are asked (first by Gavin, now for the methoblog itself) to come up with a Top 5 posts list for the previous year. I have to admit, after looking over a year of my posts, I was pretty unimpressed with my entries for the year! But here's what I have (in chronological order):

1) The Family Tree - Last year, Jay at Only Wonder wrote about a new site for 'social networking' genealogy: Geni.com. I checked out the site and rekindled my interest in genealogy, a passion shared by my cousins, my late aunt, and my late grandmother. I've since re-fallen in love with genealogy, and have made lots of cool discoveries about my family tree. I've reconnected with some relatives, 'met' relatives online for the first time, and discovered and/or confirmed relations to King Henry II, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and some Mayflower folks. And I've also become really curious in the stories behind the names. How did my Cherokee ancestor come to be a slave-owner? How did my ancestors bear so many deaths of their children? How did they take so many risks to cross the ocean to unknown worlds?

2) The hardest thing in ministry - This post announced my new appointment to the blogosphere. Not profound, but marking one of the biggest events in my life to date...

3) Pastor Nightmares - I wrote about the nightmares I've had relating to ministry, and one of them coming true: not having my manuscript with me when I had to preach. It actually turned out to be a good experience.

4) Transitions is a post about leaving one congregation and moving to another.

5) Things I Keep Meaning to Do is a reflection on my visit to CUMAC-ECHO in Paterson. This post is especially meaningful to me because it really points to some things that, as I say, I keep meaning to do, places of spiritual struggle I find myself in.

Eh well - with a cast and crutches and a move, I guess this hasn't been my most stellar blogging year, at least not from my own point of view. But I thank you all for reading anyway!