At the beginning of 2008, I never dreamed...

• I would walk the streets of Krakow, Poland.

• See Auschwitz.

• Baptize Taylor James.

• Preach in a Polish Baptist church.

• Get published in a book for childrens charity.

• Attend the Arkansas Baptist State Convention voluntarily.

• I'd own a flat screen TV.

• Carolyn would be diagnosed with breast cancer.

• My family would receive sooo much love and prayer support.

• Journey would gain so many new families and friends.

• Journey would also lose a few more folks.

• I'd reconnect with Tim Smith at Exponential in Orlando.

• Olympics in China!?

• Attend another Passion event in Dallas with Carolyn - and have to stay in the hotel with the flu.

• Help develop an informal church planters network in Arkansas

• See Sam go to his first week-long kids camp - by himself

• Teach a seminar on using the internet for godly influence at Glorieta, NM

• Watch Adelyn place first in just about every race she swam in.

• See the UAM BCM building begin construction!

• Attend the last worship service for the BCM in their old building (built in 1954).

• Meet Ed Stetzer.

• Become a Twaddict.

• Get beat in the first round of the fantasy football playoffs.

• Shop unsuccessfully for a Kia Rondo.

• Get a moped stolen from me and have money provided to purchase a new one.

• Fall more in love with my wife than ever.

• Resurrect the old joke about seeing the fortune teller (don't ask; you have to present to fall for it.)

• See gas go over $4 and under $1.50 in one year. That's retarded.

• Be prayed for consistently and dramatically and intensely by so many folks from all over the world. (That's a blog post forthcoming in and of itself.)

• Witness "The Catch" in Superbowl 2008.

• Have some strong aversion to words like bailout, change, and pork.

• See such radical change in national leadership and history made at the same time.

• Live in our house without power for five days due to a hurricane

• Watch Carolyn get her own iPhone and become one of those users she used to lash out at.

• Witness a near-worship service on one of the last shows of American Idol '08.

• Get to play in foot-deep snow in the middle of March in Arkansas!

• Find a new home for Fancy the chihuahua, get a new dog... have a cat run over... and get a kitten for Christmas... whew. Pet Replacement Year.

• Learn so much about Christ, life and intimacy with God through hardship.

• Preach in Newark, Arkansas.

• See dozens of college students coming to our church.

• Marry one of my former students... (I was the officiating pastor... I'm not from Texas...)

• Admit that PCs are better than Macs... then I woke up in a cold sweat. What a nightmare.

What did you see happen that surprised you? Blog about it and leave a comment and a link!