2023: The Year in Review

It’s time for me to post another yearly review:

Cost of Living

2022 was the year that expensive stuff kept breaking (like my car and my teeth). We didn’t have as much of that this year, but the overall cost of living presented a challenge for us. I’m sure many of my readers can relate: the average American Family spent about a thousand dollars a month more in 2023 than in the previous year just to maintain the same standard of living.

I’m not mentioning this to complain or to dwell on problems. I’m simply writing it down so that some day I’ll look back and remember God’s faithfulness through the challenges.

Church/Ministry

A few things come to mind when I think about ministry this year.

  • I have continued to preach through the Gospel of Matthew. This may be the most enjoyable sermon series I’ve ever done. I always say that I hope the congregation gets a fraction of what I receive from studying when they hear the sermons.
  • I mentioned that a good friend of mine, a retired pastor, joined our congregation last year. He also started a new Bible study (“Sunday School” class) last year for some of the younger families that have been attending our church. It has gone really well, and we’ve had more young families get involved with our church. We’ve also seen growth in our children’s ministries.
  • We had good turnouts for both Vacation Bible School and Trunk or Treat. Vacation Bible School resulted in children putting their faith in Christ and getting baptized. Our children’s ministry in general has had a great year.
Vacation Bible School (June 2023)

Clark: from Prekindergarten to Kindergarten

Clark “graduated” (completed) prekindergarten back in June. We were very happy with the school, so we enrolled him for kindergarten. It turned out that one of his best friends and one of his teachers from prekindergarten ended up his class this year. We also discovered that one of Clark’s new teachers is an Alabama Crimson Tide fan (not a common thing for a native-born El Pasoan). This school year has gone really well so far.

Breakthroughs

I didn’t mention this in last year’s review post, but Clark had a bit of bumpy start to prekindergarten last year. There were several days that he didn’t want to listen to his teachers and disrupted the classroom. I had to come to the school a few times to “persuade” him to behave.

But something clicked when we returned here in January of 2023 from our vacation in Alabama. He brought home a bad conduct report early that first week and I took away one of his favorite toys. We’ve used this punishment before, but it’s as though that day he finally made the connection between cause and effect. He’s only brought back one or two bad conduct reports from that day all the way through kindergarten this year.

Another breakthrough started in January: Clark’s speech, which had been a bit delayed, seemed to transform overnight. He began formulating longer sentences, asking more complex questions, and mastering all kinds of verbal skills that he was unable to do in previous months. Cris and I have been both astounded and relieved by this.

Clark has also continued to grow in his strong points, such as letters, numbers, and reading. He’s an amazing kid and I’m so thankful to be his dad!

Dual Citizenship

Mare Cris completed her path to American citizenship back in 2017. That was a long, expensive process and we were grateful for it to be finished.

This year we had an opportunity to acquire dual citizenship for both Mare Cris and Clark. The Philippine Consulate General of Houston Texas did an outreach here in El Paso back in April (this event was sponsored by one of the local Filipino-American groups). We were able to send some documents to them ahead of time, then finish other steps while the representatives were here in El Paso. My wife and son are now dual citizens of both America and the Philippines.

We’re not sure exactly what this benefit will mean for them. It should at least make future visits to the Philippines that much easier (no need for any kind of visa when you are a citizen of the Philippines).

A Season of Death

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die . . .

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a

Late August and the following weeks brought what I can only describe as a wave of death to our lives. It began with our family in the Philippines–one of my wife’s paternal relatives passed away. Then a young mother in Alabama we were good friends with died in a car accident. My wife’s maternal grandfather passed away next. This was followed by the death of yet another young mother–a church member who died within weeks of being diagnosed with cancer.

All of these deaths happened within about a month. The before-mention moms were both in their 30’s and had young children. These losses are still hard for us to wrap our minds around. I’m thankful for God’s grace, strength, and comfort.

Family

Mare Cris and I celebrated 11 years of marriage back in March. She grows in grace and beauty every day. We are still partners in life and ministry and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We have continued to enjoy watching Clark grow up. The time goes by quickly!

This year’s cold and flu season has not hit us as hard as it did last year (so far, at least). We are grateful for that!!

We also continued a tradition we started last year: visiting my family in Alabama during July and Christmas time (instead of Memorial Day and Thanksgiving). This has allowed us to build great holiday memories with family without disrupting Clark’s school routine.

I’ll leave you with this quote from A.W. Tozer. I think it is fitting since we are bidding farewell to another year:

May you have a blessed, God-honoring 2024!

2022: The Year in Review

It’s time for me to write another post and reflect on the passing year. This post may not be as long as some that I’ve written, but here goes:

Budget Crunch

I’ll start out with the bad news: this was a tough year financially. Record-level inflation, increased costs of living, and high gas prices made things difficult (I’m sure many who are reading this can relate). But it was also one of those years where it seemed that anything that could break did (I’m talking about expensive stuff, like car engines and teeth).

This may come across as a complaint, but it isn’t intended that way. I want to look back at this blog post and remember God’s faithfulness and provisions. We are blessed!

School Days

Clark began attending pre-kindergarten a nearby school this year. He loves his teachers and classmates, and wants to get up and attend every morning. It’s yet another reminder that the time is flying by and he’s growing up.

First Day of School

School did seem to bring some extra sniffles and sneezes into our lives, but that’s OK, too–might as well let Clark build up his immunity.

Notable Books

I didn’t read quite as many books this year (something I need to change next year). Anyway, I did read Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. This book was kind of an autopsy of Western civilization. In other words, the author explained how we have reached such an absurd place in Western thought–a place where believing in objective biological realities about gender is now considered narrow-minded and bigoted. This book was helpful for cultural understanding but a bit difficult to slog through. I wish I had instead read Strange New World, Trueman’s newer book. I hear that it is updated and more readable (less academically oriented).

I also read James Snyder’s The Life of A.W. Tozer: In Pursuit of God. I’ve always loved Tozer’s writing, but I’ve never taken the time to learn much about his life. Snyder did a commendable job of describing both Tozer’s deep love for God and his flaws as a family man. Tozer was faithful to his wife, but he was emotionally distant as a husband and father. This shocked me and I’m still not sure how to wrap my mind around it (definitely another reason to avoid hero worship of one’s favorite preacher/author). Snyder was even-handed as a biographer: honest but not overly critical. I found this book to be very compelling and finished it quickly.

Church/Ministry

Some really good things happened in our church this year. Covid was no longer an issue (at least not in the way it has been) and we’ve had some new younger couples join our church. We also had a good friend of mine who is a pastor join our congregation. I’m thankful for these blessings! This was the first time in a couple of years that we’ve been able to return to a full ministry schedule (vacation Bible school, trunk or treat, etc.).

Trunk or Treat 2022

I finished preaching through Romans and I’m now preaching through the Gospel of Matthew. The more I study God’s word the more I find myself in awe of it!

Family

God continued to bless our family this year. We’ve enjoyed watching our son grow up, another year of marriage, and we’ve had opportunities to visit my family in Alabama. We came to celebrate dad’s birthday back in May and we are spending the holidays in Alabama as I write (first time since 2015).

Future

2023 has already thrown us one little curve ball: we will be celebrating the first couple of days of it here in Alabama instead of Texas. Our return flight was one of thousands that were cancelled by Southwest. That’s no big deal, especially considering that I wrote about God’s prerogative to change our plans.

I know 2023 will be full of challenges, opportunities, and changes. I’m looking forward to seeing what He does through all of these.

Happy New Year!