Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

It's hard to believe it's 2011 already. I still have trouble thinking of myself as 20 years old. 2010 had been a pretty amazing year. I feel like as each year comes, things keep getting better and better. Obviously there are still some tough times and things I struggle with, but I don't plan on letting those keep me down.

It seriously has been a wonderful year with college. I've met a majority of my Real Life Class of 2013 friends in January or April, and God has continued to remind me of how much He loves me. I could attempt to summarize my year, but then I would have to look at my past blog posts to remind myself.

I'm the type of person who doesn't make New Years resolutions. Why you ask? It is because I know I will probably forget them. I'm also the type of person who can be a perfectionist when it comes to myself, but still save everything for the last minute. However, my perfectionism isn't enough for me to want to double check whatever papers I write or whatever schoolwork I do. It's like a paradox. I don't know why I went off on this tangent, but I'm not going to erase it.

Here is the prayer I wrote in the prayer journal at the International House of Prayer East Bay just a couple hours before the new year started:

Praise God! Jesus, thank you for all that you have done for me, thank you for life, for loving me, for freedom in YOU! Thank you for blessing me with so much this year, for all my friends that I've met who help me open up and grow more in you! Thank you for giving me boldness in sharing my testimony this year. Thank you for bringing me through struggles. I pray for more growth this year; to seek you more. You are number 1! I pray that you will bless IHOP East Bay, and I want to pray for the 24/7 prayer movement starting up in Isla Vista this summer. I love you Daddy!
-Kenneth S.

Maybe this seems more like something I should have written during Thanksgiving...

Anyways, the last year had been a pretty awesome year. It was awesome being a part of Real Life in UCSB, and it was great becoming a part of the Epic ohana. It has also been awesome going to Reality (although I fall asleep in service sometimes...), and I love how Isla Vista Church is like a family. Meeting so many loving Christians had been a blessing. I want to thank God for bringing me into such awesome communities. Of course, I feel like there are people who feel that I'm not open about myself, and so I hope with this year I can grow closer with everyone.

For the rest of this post, I'm going to mention some awesome people who came into my life this ye...err I mean last year. Of course, I'm probably not going to mention everyone because then this list would be too long. I'm also going to call them by the nicknames I have in my head that I don't usually say out loud unless I don't actually have a nickname for them. Ian Charbonnet, Mere Bear, Melton, Klezek, Amanda manda manda manda manda Chiang, Jodan-san, Dah-veed (Salazar), David Hoang, Mee-shell Quesadilla, Claire Bear...actually I think I'll stop now because there's too many people to mention. I wuvs yoooooooooooooooouuuuuuuzzz!!!! That was probably the least formal thing I wrote on this blog so far...ever.

Of course, there are plenty of awesome people back in the Bay Area too. I feel like I have to mention Ryan Frank, but I'm also too lazy to make another list of people only to end it too early.

2010 was a pretty amazing year. I can't wait to see what God has in store for 2011. When Todd Benjamin Lout, my youth pastor, asked in a facebook status "What are your goals for 2011?" my answer was "To spend more time with God...because I get distracted easily..." Pray that I can keep this goal and not get so distracted.

Until next time,
Kenneth