Scott’s Favorites of 2018

Leave a comment

January 1, 2019 by Slow Sand

Memories

1. Misc. 
   • 2/23 My first official surprise Birthday party – Lydia & Co. pulled it off – Eberley and Walt’s house/schlep rock. Blown away by her secrecy recruiting all of my coworkers to help surprise me.
   • 4/30 Breakfast with Grandee where he told me a story about one of the most influential verses in his life…Galatians 5:23 “Far be it from me to boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world”.
   • 5/7 and 5/9 – Fishing with each kiddo on the dock and catching a bunch of fish including “Methuselah”
   • 12/31 – NYE partying with the David’s
2. With Lydia
   • 5/5 – Reading James 1 with Lydia on the dock (thanks for letting us use your in-laws place, Mason!) as well as finishing my screenplay on the deck
   • 5/25 Beach bistro together where Lydia said such a cute line “I don’t want to go back to sharing you” (this is also one of my favorite memories with Lydia from 2018)
   • 7/11. Date at Uchiko – got the last table in the happy hour area. Got a $25 gift card from the waiter even though we used $75 of gift cards on dinner. After dinner we went to central market to buy a few treats (chocolate and kombucha) to have on hand when we are in real labor. and then walked around mills pond as the sunset.
   • 7/22 (7am) – watching the strength and beauty of this woman God gave me on full display in labor delivering our third-born daughter without any pain medication.
3. With Violet
   • ^5/23 all day together on Siesta key. Swimming non-stop…including with manatees and catching a “hat-fish”. 🙂
   • 7/22 “I think up against Ezra or you being funnier, he’s probably funnier than you. Because he just says such funny things…”
   • 12/24 Plotting her sneak downstairs with Ezra to see if Santa is real (and verify that her parents have been lying to her), “We can just tell mom and dad ‘I have to go to the bathroom’ or something…wait but then they’ll ask ‘why don’t you just go in ours’…Hmmm…I have an idea. We’re doing it”
4. With Ezra
   • May 11. On the potty before pooping “can you hold my milk. And my bunny? It’s not good to bring things on the potty. Cuz then they can get fwushed to the sea. Fo-wev-voh.” Said with but dramatic eyes wide open.
   • 11/16. Going up escalator after escalator at the UT game vs. Iowa state. “It goes even higher?!” Like six straight times.
5. With Sylvia…
   • Sleeping on my chest so many times from months 0-3
   • Early smiling and often smiling
   • Her eyebrows going up after a particularly happy moment (usually featuring Ezra’s humor)
   • Her kisses on my nose

Movies

1. Greatest Showman
2. A Quiet Place
3. Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
4. Teen Titans Go! to the movies
5. Instant Family

Best Books of 2018

1. All books read: Hamilton (Chernow), On Managing People (Kim, Katzenbach et al), 12 Rules for Life (Peterson), White Awake (Hill), Last Days of Night (Moore), Gay Girl, Good God (Perry), The Three-Body Problem (Liu), A Severe Mercy (Vanauken), Leadership on the Line (Linsky and Heifetz), The Gift of Being Yourself (Benner)
2. My Favorite 3:
   1. Hamilton
   2. White Awake
   3. A Severe Mercy
3. Currently reading: Leadership Code, The Name of the Wind (Rothfuss), Thinking: Fast and Slow (Kahneman),

Quotes/Book Concepts

1. “Leadership is disrupting people at a rate than can absorb“. from Leadership on the Line. Leadership is far more like surfing…feeling the right balance between leaning too far ahead of or into the wave than it is like golf where you are trying to constantly hit the perfect shot.
2. I’m a two! While at a training led by Kevin Peck and Josh Patterson of the Village Church, Kevin and I spoke some about the Enneagram and he made a passing comment “based on what I know about you I bet you’re a two”. Despite how little we know about each other the more I thought about it and talked it over with my close friends and Lydia, I realized he was right! This has been eye opening for how I perceive my strengths and weaknesses.
3. “A bad understanding of what racism is is often the problem with dismantling it: white people think racism is an individual act done by an individual. It’s far more total in its reach and causes [including a narrative of racial difference, the ideology of white supremacy]” from White Awake. This book along with leading our MWDP group with two friends who are of African American ethnicity have been a blessing towards my understanding of my racial blindness apart from an awakening prompted by the Spirit and a desire to grow in this area.
4. “Emotional intelligence accounts for 1/3 of managers effectiveness.” On Managing People Ch. 1 “Leadership that Gets results”.

Review of 2018’s Goals

1. Meditate on God’s word. My goal is to memorize 2 Chapters of the Bible – 1 chapter each semester should push the envelope relative to last year but also should not be too daunting.
   • A. By God’s grace I memorized 1 Tim 1 and 2.
     • Downloading and utilizing “Prayermate” which gave me
2. Lead in plurality. This last year it has mostly been a 2-leader team. However, at a large church that is trying to reach a city that has complex needs, a diversity of gifting is likely to require at least 3 key leaders. That kind of team will need a right blend of humility and confidence that is supernatural.
   • A-. God brought some difficulty into my professional world making my ability to lead most initiatives and manage most staff impossible…thereby bringing along the necessity for (and proving up the qualification of) Val and Steve into the leadership fold. It hasn’t been without bumps but overall this has been such a sweet gift.
3. Bond with my son. I want to be a father who through nearness and a variety of experiences provides his son with the strength of character to withstand whatever life may throw his way. I feel as though this last year I was with him but that I struggled to shape and be shaped by him, to really connect with him. In a culture that de-values masculinity, a higher caliber of parenting is required of me.
   • A-. According to Lydia. 🙂 “He feels connected to you”. Two big moments stand out above…fishing, drawing and jet skiing with him at the Blalocks cottage and also going to the ISU/UT game (kickoff of 7pm CST) with him – giving him 1 treat per quarter to keep him awake.

Goals for 2019

1. Meditating on and praying God’s word. I think the amount of memorization I set as an objective last year is a good goal to keep going for 2019 (2 chapters)…and then trying to increasingly, regularly use Prayer-mate (~5 days a week or so).
2. Hospitable Rhythms. I want to build in regular, sustainable rhythms for being hospitable to my family and to others. Specifically: home by 5:30pm on average work days and trying to find a way to regularly host people at our home not just for MWDP nights.
3. Unfurling my emotions without anger. As an Enneagram 2 it is easy to see self completely through the lens of how helpful I am being to others. This can mean I bottle up my anger and when I try and be authentic, the predominant emotion that comes out can be anger or stifled anger. I want to practice more honesty along the way of my spiritual range of emotions…not just once I’m worn out or on vacation but in the “mid-range” of experiences as well.