Discovery of an earlier me. Pun intended.

We are going through a lot of stuff lately, getting ready for the baby. Cindy's in high nesting mode and I"m doing my best to keep up. II do appreciate getting rid of clutter and reevaluating what do we value. We discovered some old journals and diaries, and one in particular kind of jarred my attention. It was the notebook I wrote poetry in when I was in college. The poetry I won't subject you to, but I did find a list of goals, and what appears to be theological understandings. I went through a lot of transformation at PLU theologically, but it's nice to see that I recorded it. I may have been preparing for my candidacy essay as well. Later on I would discover that was folly. Oh well.

I will resist the urge to edit this list, as some of it seems a little silly, but to be true to where I was at in my life I'll preserve it.

In 15 Years, dated March 31, 1998. That means I got one more year left to make good.

• I will have graduated from PLU
• Married
• 1-2 children
• Graduated from seminary/ordination
• have a congregation of 800
• Gone to Scotland and back to develop roots
• Read Greek and Latin regularly
• Begun graduate work on Luther theology
• have worship styles - contemporary (jazz, blues, pop, etc) & traditional
• have theatrical messages/productions regularly (direct)
• have a house
• have investments - mutual funds, etc & untaxable $ for college fund for kids
• Give theological lectures/discussion groups
• Developed/created family traditions
• Develop stronger self esteem
• Know how to dance
• Train in martial arts regularly
• Be a well known figure in the local area
• Active in Lutheran political work
• Have good health coverage for whole family and retirement plan
• Have organized financial life

The congregation size and worship styles goals made me laugh out loud. I can't even begin to unpack what I was thinking then. But it was stunning to see so much of this list actually come to pass. This is interesting because this is BEFORE Dead Gentlemen. At this time I had not developed a plan to go to Scotland, but I fulfilled that part the following year. It's also interesting looking at the financial language I wrote, and the concepts I was thinking about. Who knew I would end up working in the financial industry?

What's not on this list is also pretty amazing. After this, I would go on to:

• Co-found Dead Gentlemen Productions
• Direct a feature length movie my senior year of college
• Travel and study in Scotland, as I previously mentioned
• Experience serious identity theft
• Experience the death of a parent
• Produce DG's most successful project so far, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, and see that it gets on Netflix
• Collaborate with an industry leading RPG publishing company to create the Demon Hunters Roleplaying Game, which I would then co-direct the video content of the rebooted Demon Hunters world.
• Move to Bellingham
• Help build/repair boats
• Sell fiberglass 
• Move to Los Angeles and actually work in the film industry by supplying them with fiberglass and other products, and consult with them on mold making.
• Be laid off in an economic downturn
• Sell Volkswagens
• Go to Germany and visit family
• Move back to Bellingham with no solid employment lined up
• Buy a new Volkswagen.

Sure there's tons of other things, but I must say it's been a pretty eventful last 14 years. And now we're having our first child, a daughter, named Caitlyn Iona Early. Her middle name comes from the profound experience I had when I went to the Isle of Iona off the coast of Scotland. Truly magical. Just like this first pregnancy has been.

I'm not going to copy down my theological musings from 14 years ago, but I will say this. They sound VERY similar to my recent musings on Facebook. It's more than interesting to me to find that what is making sense and speaking to me, is something that I had come to understand 14 years ago. Now I feel I just understand it deeper. In another decade, I fully expect another transformation of a similar deepening.

Okay, so it worked the last time, I need to set out some goals for the next decade.

In 10 Years, dated 3/18/2012

• Sticking with the 1-2 kids
• Buy a home
• Buy a house/space for my office/business
• Visit Scotland with people close to me, and revisit the Isle of Iona.
• Found a non-profit ecumenical, or at least Lutheran, beer brewing organization that offers proceeds to support local needs, like the Food Bank, Lighthouse Mission, and other things like that.
• Exercise daily
• Develop a coveted BBQ sauce

I guess that's about as big as I can dream at the moment. So say we all.