Saying Goodbye to Decade of 2000

I love transitions. I love to look out to the future. I love to dream about "what can be."

I also like to say goodbye to endings.

So, today, I am saying goodbye to the decade of 2000.

So much happened, it doesn't seem like 10 years ago that I stood in a line to get my propane tank refilled so we would be prepared for the infamous y2k. I loved hearing what everyone had done to prepare. The moment came and went, like a dud. Thump. Nothing.

It seemed a foresadowing of a decade that has been filled with war, economic downturn, uncertainty, broken dreams, political cynicism, religious fall out, switch of focus from North America to Asia and the Middle East, global connection, continual fall of leaders from every spectrum of society, and uprise of extreme technology.

Did you have a personal cell phone in year 2000? Did you own an IPOD? No, because they didn't exist yet. How many computers did your household own? We had one in 2000, and now we have more than the number of people that live in our home.

How many leaders have fallen in the past 10 years? I can't even begin to remember them all, I just know that they came from every part of life: from our government in Washington, to local politicians, to spiritual leaders, to businessmen, even down to pilots that were so busy tracking their new flight plan that they flew right past their destination!

How much did you know about Islam or Iraq or Afghanistan in year 2000? I remember reading a book by Nelson DeMille the summer of 2001 that had a plot very similar to the demise of the Twin Towers in New York City. When it happened just a month later, I kept saying, "I just read a book like that." How strange.

On a more personal level, this decade has been one of great growth and challenge for me. I graduated from seminary in May of 2000 and started a new faith community in Denver called "the Journey Project." This was interupted by another company being sold out from underneath my husband Bill, who has a knack for working for companies that dismantle due to merger/buy outs.

We ended up moving to Seattle after 18 years in Denver because Bill received a fabulous job offer with a company that we thought might stay in business for awhile. Although we dearly loved being by our family and our many lifetime friends, it was with great expectancy and anticipation that we moved to to the Great Northwest. (his new company was sold just 18 months after we got to Seattle.....)

I ended up being surprised by a call to Pine Lake Covenant, my denominational home and a position that was written with me in mind (even though they didn't even know I existed at the time!). We ended up buying a house just two miles from the church, even though I didn't know they were so closely connected geographically at the time.

God was in this: before my first face to face interview, I was awakened in the middle of the night and told, "I am calling you to these people, to teach, train and equip them so they will be ready for what I want to do." So, just our days after moving into our house, I began to candidate for their new position as an equipping pastor.

I grew up a lot in that position, God's preparation for my next call to plant Missio Lux: a church without walls that is focused on knowing God, loving one another in smaller missio community, and serving the world within a community of people that have the same passion!

We see a lot of what God is doing; but I know there is so much more. I believe it is going to take place in the decade of 2010! Tomorrow I am going to blog about some of those dreams.

But, I also want to celebrate how much our move has grown us through having interaction with people from all over the world. Our neighborhood has people from all over the globe: China, India, Canada, Israel, Denmark, Egypt, and Ireland. Our area is now filled with global people mostly hired by Microsoft; making our culture more interesting, more challenging and more reflective of the world we live in.

Our three daughters have been on so many trips that I have lost count. All three girls went to Romania, two have been to two countries in Africa, our oldest, Heather, went around the world last year and was in 21 countries. Today she lives in London and is getting her Masters degree in Global Health. We were able to go to Thailand and Cambodia last year this time; and now know that you can't leave town without a current passport!

Goodbye 2000! You have been both good and hard, challenging and rewarding, full of growth and change. One thing is for sure: you haven't been dull or boring.

I welcome this new decade with open arms because I know that whatever it brings, I have a faith in the One that created me, Jesus Christ, that will teach me, empower me and walk with me through it.

Talk to you tomorrow!