What a strange and beautiful year it was.

We kicked off 2018 with a new bible study series: Brews & Hebrews at Aardwolf. I appreciated Pastor Steve Painter handing me the reins for a few months, and I loved doing this long-form deep dive into Hebrews. I’m excited for our next series at Aardwolf, in which Pastor Steve will be leading participants through the history of the bible. Hard as this may be to believe, Christianity’s primary sacred text didn’t just descend from a cloud onto King James’s lap one day; there’s a long and tangled history of how and why the book came together the way it did. Come check this series out on Sunday nights at 6:30pm starting January 6th!

Brew Theology continues to grow and thrive. Our Beer & Chocolate event was well received, and we had some great conversations on topics like predestination, the devil, creation/evolution, civil religion, Santa, and more others than I can count. We also had some rejuvenating community nights, where connections with one another deepened. Thomas and I already have some great topics lined up for 2019 including faith shifts, bias, evangelism, zombies, and much much more. Our next gathering will be January 8th, and we’re talking about resolutions; we’ll see you there!

The hospitals provided some unexpected developments this year as well. I had been on a hiatus from my chaplaincy training when an unexpected tragedy in August got me involved once more. During a mass shooting in downtown Jacksonville, I helped coordinate a chaplaincy response at one of the nearest hospitals, and the experience reminded me how important I find emergency medical chaplaincy. While community chaplaincy remains my passion, I anticipate my career always involving some combination of the hospital and the bar. Anyway, the stars aligned just right, and in conversations with my supervisors at the hospitals, I was able to reenter a training program with my sights set on board certification in roughly a year if all goes according to plan (which is pretty much a 180 from where things were at the end of 2017).

Of course, then there’s the personal side of things. While Jessi and I had our small private wedding ceremony back in December of 2017, March of 2018 marked the big wedding with friends and family. It turns out weddings are every bit as stressful as everyone warned us, but it was still wonderful being able to celebrate together. Jessi also graduated from nursing school and has begun her nursing career. We’re both keeping fairly challenging schedules right now, but when you love each other, you make the time for each other.

Yep, 2018 was a busy year. With teaching, writing, events, hospital chaplaincy, nine batches of bitters, Wild Goose, podcasts, wedding stuff, gaining and losing 15 pounds, becoming an uncle, education hours, two pieces of post-it art, and raising a Cow, I’ve had my hands full. It’s been a good year though, and I’m excited to see what 2019 will bring!