2012 Year End Review

My 2011 year end review began "This has been a year of trials and obstacles." As I sit down to reflect on 2012 I wonder if I shouldn't start this review with a similar assessment  As I reflected on 2011 I remembered how we all anticipated growth but in retrospect realized we had been mistaken about how that might look. We pictured more people, projects and even places but what we found was a growth of something less calculable. I said "We have weathered storms and grown roots..." Then I ended that reflection with a prayer "may these roots draw deeply on the grace and presence of God and may 2012 bear the fruit." Now I can see 2012 in retrospect and from this vantage point wonder how I might assess what has actually happened.

While it's clear from the end of last year's review that I assumed that deeper roots would yield fruit, in hind-sight it seems that deeper roots yielded both fruit and the need for pruning. There was some fruit this year but there was also a lot of prunning. Last year saw Natalia and  I move out of the house while this year we moved back in only to see the guys have to step out. I was there with the guys for the first half of the year as we were all being pruned together. In time the whole branch was removed to make room for Natalia and I to flourish.

Before the guys left we had many guests and visitors. Some were quite pleasant and then some others were more like intruders sent like a plague from hell. Those unpleasant ones were the BEDBUGS that took up residence for a good chunk of the year. It seemed like our minds themselves were being pruned as the little monsters ate us alive. In contrast to those unwanted guests we had some really great experiences hosting folks like Sekajipo Genes and the Jungle, a few couch surfers making there way across the US on Bicycles and of course our Methodist delegate friends who decided to stay with us and our bedbugs instead of the plush hotels downtown. We were also able to host some events in our yard like the awesome gathering we had with the CIW.

The year bore bruit and we saw friends on the streets with addictions join the Timothy Initiative for recovery, we finally split our House Church and planted one at St. Dennis' place that we are calling 'The Den'. We were able to launch a Neighborhood association for Ybor Heights too. Even as the fruit was growing, other branches were being pruned. Natalia had some substantial medical issues and a few surgeries, I had to make some big ministry and relational changes, 12 step recovery has been a huge pruning process and the guys moving out felt more like a complete uprooting for many of us. We are however still alive and I am praying that God is the vine dresser pruning the ones he loves.