A Birthday Year in Pictures

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand."
Psalm 37:23-24

Today I am 37. Last birthday, April 17, I wrote a mildly doleful note about turning 36. I needed it at the time. But in all humility I can say that I'm a better golfer today than on that windy day at the Hancock course, and hopefully a better man too. Today there will be no dole, in the Latin sense of dolus, or grief. Today there will be joy with Phaedra and going on a camping trip with the men of Christ Church. Huzzah!

I read my birthday psalm (Psalm 37, that is) this morning over a tasty cup of PG Tips tea and it's such a wonderful psalm.

Here then is a photographic description of my life since my last birthday.

Oh, one more thing. Like I mentioned on Facebook wall, since I am lord of this day I have ordered rain for all of Austin, not just for my own backyard. And I have to say it was the loveliest feeling to wake up to a dark brooding sky, dousing our house with sheets of rain. God bless us, we've needed it.

April 25, 2008 -- The Imago Dei Church Artists Retreat, Portland, OR

(Our friends Dave and Anneli Anderson.)

(A very red door.)

June 1, 2008 -- I resign as arts pastor at Hope Chapel

(My friend Michele Trepagnier gives me a "Last mile care package," and it's got chocolate!)

(The window pane on my office door at Hope Chapel: art, art jokes, and a prayer of St. Francis in Italian.)

(Bookshelves in my office.)

July 16, 2008 -- Laity Lodge retreat with Dr. Packer
(The J.I. himself.)

August 14, 2008 -- Nashvegas!
(Pic with some very musicale people--Stephen Mason on my left, Sarah Masen two doors down, and Scott Hawley, physics-professor-qua-singer-songwriter on the end.)

(Standing under the Man in Black.)

(Enjoying the coolness of the Smoky Mountains.)

September 23, 2008 -- Visit to John Michael Talbot's place in northwest Arkansas
(Phaedra walking with the monk. A dog named Benedict strolls ahead.)

(The monk performing a dog trick. Or is that dog levitation?)

October 2, 2008 -- Laity artists retreat
(Nathan Marion, he of the Freemont Abbey arts center.)

October 17, 2008 -- Union Center Christian Church, Endicott, New York
(Red tree.)

(Very cool bridge with dreamy barn in the background.)

October 22, 2008 -- Auspicious visit to Duke Divinity School

(A door that will become very familiar to me in a few months' time.)

(It's beautiful in Durham, North Carolina. Ahh.)

October 28, 2008 -- Leave for Thailand

(Our preferred mode of transportation.)

(And the arts pastor shall lie down with the tiger.)

(Rajendran and Pramila. He's the director of the Indian Mission Association. And she is a completely lovely woman.)

December 25, 2008 -- Christmas Day

(Hanging out in my parent's backyard.)

December 31, 2008 -- "First Night" in downtown Austin (under the lights of Zilker Park)

January 20, 2009 -- Our 1 year wedding anniversary, Five 'n Dime Shop, Fredericksburg, TX

(We're wearing everything we need to conquer the world.)

January 28, 2009 -- AMIA conference in Greensboro, NC
(My bishop, Philip Jones.)

(The Christ Church staff: me, Bryan Brown, Jodi Wicker (nee Heatly), Cliff Warner, Christine Warner (my sis), and Rusty St. Cyr. Isn't that an awesome last name?)

March 10, 2009 -- Consulting trip to Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge PA

(Here taking a break for lunch, shoving a massive pizza "wedge" into my mouth, Travis Hines behind camera.)

March 15, 2009 -- Fantabulous times with the nephews and nieces


(Aunt Phaedra showing Brendan and Cormac how to wield a propane torch to take beeswax off of an old art piece. They badly want to hold that torch.)

March 22, 2009 -- Our nephew Sohren's B-day -- the fam (Four generations of men: my granddad, my nephew Speight, Scranton his father, my padre holding Sohren.)

March 28, 2009 -- Golf with the boys

April 1, 2009 -- I say yes to Duke's invitation to join the basketball team, er, doctoral program.

(I'm angry, man.)

April 12, 2009 -- Easter dinner at the Younger Taylor household

(Phaedra puts the Martha Stewart touch on our dining room.)

(And here we are feasting it up and glad to be drinking our coffee, tea, and wine and eating our cheese cakes and chocolate tortes and pastel-colored malt balls.)