the past couple of nights i’ve written things that were at least somewhat serious. tonight, i want to go a different route. i want to have a little fun with this post. so, tonight, i’m going to just list a bunch of random stuff on here. they’re not completely random because they all fall under the category of “things i want to do this year that i didn’t do last year, or maybe i did do them but i want to do them again.” and because i like round numbers, i think i’ll put down ten things. so, without further ado, my list*:


ten things i want to do this year that i didn’t do last year, or maybe i did do them but i want to do them again

1) graduate. that sounds kind’ve cool. the last time i graduated chuck norris spoke. but it wasn’t quite the same because i knew i still had one class to finish and then i had grad school after that. once i graduate this may, i’m completely finished.**

2) leave lynchburg. i’ve spent the last four years in this town. they’ve been good years. i’ve had a bunch of fun. i’ve met some really cool people. but i think it’s time to get out. i think it’s time to move on to some other place. with school being over, that means my job will be finished too, and that is the perfect open door to find that new place. i’d prefer north carolina, but i’m open to south carolina, georgia, virginia, and really pretty much anywhere.***

3) meet new people. yeah, i’ve done this before, but this year i get an opportunity to do it in ways that i’ve never done it before. i’m getting more and more involved at my church and i’ve been able to meet some really cool people that way. we started up our test run of our singles program this fall and we’re continuing it into the spring. i also plan on serving more on sundays. meeting other people that are in the same stage of life as me is something that i’ve been wanting to do for a while, and i’m looking forward to getting to do it this year.

4) get a job working in a church. i’m not sure where that’ll be. i’m not 100% sure what that’ll be either. i’d like to do student ministry because that’s where my heart is at (especially high school and college students) but i’m pretty open to whatever it is god wants me to do. finding the job will be the hard part. the economy sucks and that impacts churches more than most people realize. and luckily for me, the student ministry programs are one of the first things that are cut. i’m not worried though. i know that this is what god wants me to do and he’ll work it out the way it’s supposed to work out. i’ve just gotta do my part and look for the opportunities. if it’s the right one then that’s where i’ll end up.

5) go on a date. yeah, i didn’t do that in 2009. kinda weird. i spent so much time working on me and getting over the ex that i didn’t go on a single date. that’s disappointing. if december 2010 rolls around and i still haven’t been on a date i’m going to ask out the first pretty girl that i see.****

6) lead a community group. i’ve never done that before and it’s something i’ve signed up to do starting in february. i can’t wait to get a group of guys together for however long i have left in this town and getting to know them and just living life together. i love helping people grow in anything, and the fact that i get to help lead a group of guys grow in god is something that excites me so much. they’ll impact me as much if not more than i’ll impact them, but just knowing that i’m going to have the chance to do this is awesome.

7) go some place that i’ve never been. i’ll never complain about my life growing up. it was completely awesome and i got to do a lot of things that most people never get to do. but the one thing we never did was travel. shoot, i’d never even been on an airplane, much less flown, until mid-november when i flew to long island for work. from the time i was one to the time i was 20 i never went north of lynchburg. i’ve never been west of pigeon forge, tennessee. i’m 23 years old. it’s time i go somewhere. so that’s what i wanna do. i don’t know where. and i don’t know with who. and i really don’t know how i’m going to afford it. but i wanna go somewhere.

8) finish school with a 3.0. yeah, a 3.0 isn’t that great. i got a 3.85 in high school without ever doing anything and got a 3.2 in undergrad just goofing off. but grad school’s been a little different. originally i was in an education program and once i realized i didn’t want to do that anymore, i just did whatever it took to get a c in the class since that’s what i needed for it to count. i’ve had four internet classes and i’m terrible in internet classes. add all of that with working full time (50+ hour weeks sometimes) this year and it makes school work a little tougher. i’ve got a 3.0 now but i’ve got two of my hardest classes this semester, and both of them are internet classes. i know i can get an a in my third class, but i’ve got to get at least a b in one of the other two to get the 3.0.

9) go to more shows. i didn’t really go see any concerts in 2009. i think the first one i went to may have been on december 30th when i randomly went to see switchfoot at liberty. no, take that back, i went to go see some christian band this summer cause a pretty girl asked me to go*****. i used to go to shows all of the time in high school. the past few years i haven’t done that. school, life, and lynchburg’s complete lack of a music scene has been the cause of that. hopefully 2010 will be different. i’m going to make a point of that.

10) think things through. i never should’ve said i was going to make this list ten items long. this was a lot more trouble than it should’ve been. i thought of the first six pretty quick but the last ones have been pretty tough. so yeah, maybe i should start thinking things through more. that’d probably be a good idea.

so there ya have it. that’s my list of ten things that i’d like to do this year that i didn’t do last year. i hope it was at least somewhat enjoyable for the twelve people that read this. what do you want to do this year? anything cool? is there anything i should add to my list? number ten was really a cop-out so leave a comment and give me something cool to put there instead.

say your prayers and take your vitamins.

have a nice day.

-jonathan

*these were completely stream of consciousness. i just wrote whatever popped in my head. there was absolutely no rhyme or reason into what was listed here

**okay, let me rephrase: once i graduate this may, i’m completely finished unless i decide to get another degree which is entirely possible.

***unless, of course, i get a job here. then i’ll stay. and “anywhere” means that i’ll go anywhere, but i really, really, really, really don’t wanna go to the north.

****assuming she has no obvious std’s or didn’t go to radford or coastal carolina. or she’s from the north.

*****doesn’t count as a date though. trust me.