Yesterday we covered January to June.

Today, it’s July through December.

July

• We all shared our worst vacation horror stories.
• With the magic of iMovie I shaved my beard and then grew a fu-manchu and a chin strap beard in under 4 minutes.
• We had some fun with our new president, comparing his pitching motion to W’s and to a former Miss America.

August

• I asked a bunch of funny people about humor, and shared the responses from Chad Gibbs, Susan Isaacs, Tyler Stanton, Jason Boyett, Rob Stennett, Matthew Paul Turner, Jon Acuff, and eventually Tripp Crosby.
• I gave you “Noah’s Ark According to the Office”, and the overwhelmingly positive response was very encouraging. This might be my favorite post of all time, and still might lead to something else down the road.
• I went on an 8-hour deep sea fishing trip and nearly died. I puked 6 times, enraged our sea captain, watched 2 sharks get caught, and somehow lived to tell about it.
• I celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary with my best friend.

September

• I made up 5 questions from fake readers and shot a video of me answering said questions.
• We all shared our least favorite work expressions.
• Jack Bauer wrote a Psalm.
• Spent a weekend in North Carolina speaking to a few hundred high school students.

October

• I had an AMAZING time at Catalyst. Brought some creative business cards with me, hung out with the impossibly likable Jon Acuff for two days, went to dinner with Jon and some Zondervan folk, slept at Tyler’s house and later blogged about some tricky houseguest scenarios.
• The race to 1000 Twitter followers ended when Tyler hit 1000 while I was still on 794. I taped a video press conference to offer my congratulations.
• I shared a few serious thoughts on why we should give grace to others, even when our first instinct tells us not to.

November

• We had a lot of fun with these 7 cliches that need to go.
• My buddy Cliff from Caedmon’s Call namedropped me in this video, right before eating goat brains.
• I ran a half-marathon, finished under my goal time, and shared 10 things I learned.

December

• I confessed to having a rat tail in the early 90s and showed you the proof.
• I was baffled by these ridiculous ads.
• I shared our 2009 Christmas Card photo so you too could try and find the 6 LOST easter eggs.

2009 has been an amazing year for me, and I give all the glory to God. He’s blessed me and my family in so many ways and we are so grateful.

I’m so excited for 2010. Sure, I’ve got lots of goals and dreams for what I want to do with my life and my writing, but ultimately I’m headed into a new year trusting God that He is in control and that I have a small but important role to play in His story.

As I think ahead to a new year I keep coming back to a line from the late great Keith Green:

“Keep doing your best, and pray that it’s blessed, and He’ll take care of the rest.”

Happy New Year everyone!