A New Year Begins

...and the Lindholtzes wish you well.

2005 ended very differently than I thought it would. We began the year with a strong sense that we were being prepared by God for a change - a change that eventually came, but differently than we expected. We thought it was going to be a change of location. There were several conversations - but one church decided to continue looking elsewhere, and another one, though it had much of the right stuff going for it, did have a couple things that caused me to send some not-interested signals which they picked up and we let it go. It was just afterwards that I was invited to take on a few new responsibilities and stay where I am at CTK - which was the right thing for me and the right thing for my family. In retrospect I believe the whole episode was an opportunity to trust God in a time of stress; an opportunity for myself, my wife and daughter, the chruch, and the staff. I look back over 14 months to a day when I was sure that by this time I would be gone from Kingwood, and I am happy to be exactly where I am.

What does 2006 hold for us? It's hard to say. We're hoping for a couple vacations to see family - in the Carolinas (July?) and in Mexico (March?). It may hold a chance to visit California as well, in February or March. It will provide EC and I with a Colorado trip with the CTK youth in June.

I hope that a year from today will see progress on debt retirement and savings growth. Most of all though, I am hoping that the year 2006 will be a year in which the Kingdom of God holds ever-deeper influence in my heart. May it be so for you as well.