Hopefully it’s pretty obvious that my list is hardly exhaustive. It’s more of a snapshot than anything else. But the more I think of it, it dawns on me that the last ten years comprises almost 40% of my life, and what a 40% it’s been, which brings us to the next ten years.

Here are my predictions for myself, the Boldman family, and the world in general for the next ten years. Obviously I have no real insight into the particulars of world events in the coming years, so it may not be a good idea to make any drastic life decisions based on the words that follow:

Personal Accomplishments
Starting in February, I will be taking classes toward my M.A. in Theological Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL. The degree that I’m attempting should take roughly 2-2.5 years for a full-time student to complete. I, on the other hand, am planning to take it somewhat more slowly (though not at a snail’s pace either). My hope is to finish somewhere near the halfway point through the decade (Hey, mastering theology takes time. You don’t want to rush these kinds of things).

As far as other personal aspirations, I’m not entirely sure. I could go über-cliché and say that I’d like to write a book, but I think that might be a little ambitious. Instead of boldly proclaiming my intentions to publish, how about simply saying that in the next decade, I’d like to grow the influence that I have that allows me to teach God’s word to other people.

The Boldman Clan
By the end of the coming decade, our little goober will be close to turning 13. I remember being 13, and as a youth pastor, I get to spend a lot of time with people who are in the vicinity of 13.

I am petrified.

I kid. I kid. Actually, I have high hopes for our family battling the evil that is the “tween years” (and I hope that by the end of the decade, someone comes up with a better term than tween). Overall, our kid is a very good kid. He’s fairly well-behaved and as far as 2.5-year-olds go, he’s pretty even-tempered. Most of the credit for this goes to his startlingly-above-average-looking mother. She is a great mom, and between the two of us, we’re trying to be the best parents our kid can have. It’s a tough job, but it’s one we’re facing head on. Hopefully our current hard work will result in a somewhat well-adjusted 12.5-year-old.

The Church
The Church will continue to experience the growing pains of trying to identify how it will reach post-modern Western culture. Will we have it figured out by the end of 2010? I’m not sure I see it happening, but I do think things will look radically different if the Church is going to be relevant to the soon-to-be 20-somethings.

The problem, with this is that I think we’ll continue to see a widening disconnect between generations in the Church. We’ll most likely see a swell of birth-22-year-olds, and continued growth in the age range of 40+, but the 23-39 group (unless we start doing something different) will be (seemingly) mysteriously absent.

The Rest of the World
Now for predictions about the stuff that I have little or no control over:

• Gas Prices – Yep, we’ll all be paying $50 per gallon. It’s just too bad that this will result in none of our kids being able to afford college.
• The Office – Unfortunately I have to agree once again with Matt that The Office will simply become almost too painful to watch, but, of course, we’ll all keep watching.
• Tech - We should see the iPhone 14 sometime during the summer of 2020. Of course it will have 8G data speeds and will be implanted directly behind your retina. For an additional $15 per month users will be allowed to actually become one consciousness with Wikipedia, or you can jailbreak and get it for free.
• Global Warming – Scientists will once and for all prove that Global Warming is actually a real thing, which will of inevitably cause most of the world to accept the tank top and flip-flops as proper office attire.
• Politics – Realizing that a traditional Two-Party System cannot possibly be representative of 400 million citizens, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party will each splinter into 318 “sub-parties” (kind of like the Tea Party, but with less rallies), giving us a true 636-party system of government. By having more voices giving input, the Congress and the Senate will finally be able to have an intellectually stimulating debate on issues that really matter to the American public (like Team Edward vs. Team Jacob).

And there you have it: my predictions for the coming decade. Have you anything to add?

Being Ridiculously Proud of My Wife
On Monday, my wife picked up a piece of paper that tells the whole world something that I already knew: That my wife is the smartest person that I know. I am so proud of my beautiful bride. She has officially completed all of the coursework and internship requirements for her Master’s Degree from Stetson University. How unbelievably cool is that?

Seeing Students Step Up In a BIG way:
On Friday, the students of the Attic Student Ministries at White Chapel Church of God showed their maturity and focus in a huge way by helping sort and count thousands of toys and bicycles for our Toy and Bike Giveaway that was held on Saturday. And what makes this even more remarkable? It’s the fact that these students actually had a half-day of school on Friday and chose to spend their afternoon serving rather than playing Nintendo (I know, I know. I’m old). These students are incredible.

Realizing the Needs of Our Community
Starting as early as 8:30pm on Friday, members of our community started lining up outside our doors for a Toy and Bike Giveaway that wouldn’t start for another 12 hours. Now, I’m no stranger to need, but it always hits home when I see people willing to sacrifice and endure unfavorable (to say the least) conditions just to see their children have a happy Christmas. Although it was (and always will be) our goal to find ways to eradicate this type of need, I hope I never forget the look in one lady’s eyes as she was waiting to receive gifts for her six kids.

Serving Christ through Serving Others
Probably one of the coolest things that I saw this weekend was how 50+ students and volunteers came together to help the less fortunate of our community. Altogether, we gave away roughly 1,700 toys and 70 bicycles to 117 families (that included almost 400 children). I have never been more proud to say that I am a part of something. On Saturday, I was proud to be a part of the Body of Christ, and it’s because of people like the students of the Attic Student Ministries and the volunteers of White Chapel Church of God that I can say that. I am blessed to be a part of such an amazing group of people and even more blessed that those people chose to serve God through serving the community.

And, if you want to see a quick slideshow of some pictures that were taken at the event, just click play below:

Ah, yes. I’ve dealt with this hope-sucking, joy-killing, cheer-squelching monster before. Too often we use the past as a measure of the future. Now, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes measuring against the past is a good thing. For example: If you ran a mile in 10 minutes last month, and you’ve been training really hard, you should be able to hope that you can now run it in 9 minutes (or even better), right? Right. That is, unless you’re now an amputee.

Ok, so maybe that’s a bit too strong of a comparison. But the point remains. Comparing with the past is ok, as long as outside factors are still comparable. As long as you still have two-legs, are in good health, and have been training, you should be able to expect to improve in your ability to run a mile from one month to the next.

For our toy drive, we knew going into this thing that the “recession” (which, if you’ve been paying attention is supposed to be over), has hit areas such as South Daytona particularly hard this year. Let’s just face it. These tough economic times mean two very specific things when it comes to a Toy Drive for the less fortunate:

• There are more people needing toys than ever before.
• There are also less toys to spare than ever before.

So how do we reconcile these two truths in the light of our mandate to help the needy? We do exactly what we’ve been doing. We collect as much as we can, and then, just as Christ commanded, we give everything away. And we bless as many people as we possibly can.

This is the first year that I’ve been able to be a part of this ministry, so I’ll be seeing things for the first time that some people have already seen. But here’s what I hope to remember this Saturday:

• Though we may not be able to give out as many toys as we might have hoped, we still are making a difference in the lives of the members of our community.
• On Christmas morning when a small child opens his gift, his smile will be no smaller because we had less toys that in years past.
• By performing this act of service to our community, we are showing others the love of Christ in a positive way (unlike some others that we’ve seen in recent past).

Of course, I would be missing an opportunity if I didn’t tell you that we still needed more toys. If you have some, please consider dropping them off at our church office which is located at:

1730 S. Ridgewood Ave
South Daytona, FL 32119

Or, if you have so many toys to donate that they can’t fit in your car (come on, I have to try, right?) and need someone to come pick up them up, please call our church office at 386-767-5470 to let us know where someone can pick them up.

And, if you don’t have any toys (like many people this Christmas), and you are in need, please consider joining us on Saturday. Doors open at 8:00am, but toys will be handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis, so you might want to get there a little early.

Let me start off by saying that I grew up with this game. I was playing it before I even knew where Oregon was (It’s right here just in case you didn’t know either). And I can honestly say that I bought wagon axles before I knew what an axle was (and to be honest, I still don’t know what a wagon tongue is, but I think it has something to go with this guy).

I remember booting up our School Computer Lab’s high-tech Apple IIe, and inserting Disk 1 of Oregon Trail (which, by the way can still be played here). Regardless of the fact that I died 9 out of 10 times (come on, I was like 6 years old), I would spend endless hours just trying to get to the point that I could float down the river in my floating Conestoga Wagon.

A few days ago, my childhood experience came full circle when I started having incredible pain in my lower abdomen. Being a Boldman, I figured that as long as I could stand, I didn’t need a doctor, so I carried on with normal life (which unfortunately involved participating in the tasting portion of a Chili Cook-off). Sure, I was still in pain 3 days later, but I figured that I kept calling it gas-pains, it would eventually go away.

I was very wrong.

When Tuesday night came around, I got to the point that it was uncomfortable (to say the least) to even stand, which by the International Boldman Standard (which I comepletely made up), it was time to head to the ER.

After waiting for a gut-wrenching (pun most certainly intended) hour and half, I finally convinced a Doctor that I was within minutes of death, which moved me up in the list of patients needing to get a CT Scan. Now that they could rule out appendicitis, I got a dose of reality that has been 19 years in the making… I had Salmonella/Shigella, which (for those of you who aren’t history / 80′s computer game buffs) is a fancy way to say:

I have dysentery.

Luckily for me, this is not 1848. I’m on a decent amount of medication, and I’ve changed my pace to steady (which is code for taking a few days off from work). But I fear that my wagon will soon run out of food. Here’s hoping that I survive long enough to find some wild fruit. If not, you’ll probably see me doing some of this before too long:

And, for those of you who might be genuinely concerned about my health, I’ll still be out of commission for a few days, I’m doing much better that I was on Tuesday thanks to modern medicine and my unbelievably beautiful wife.

Enter the “Free Oil Change” coupon.

Yes, you’ve all gotten them in the mail or newspaper (they still make those?). They are printed in mass quantity on brightly-colored shiny paper with the word “FREE” written in such a way that you almost feel bad if you don’t use it. Well, that’s exactly the position I was in earlier today.

I noticed that the car was a few (thousand) miles past the recommended oil change (I think they just give us those window stickers to make us feel bad), and I had just seen a coupon for a “FREE OIL CHANGE” in the paper. So what did I do? I hopped in my sadly neglected automobile and headed to the closest purveyor of said “FREE OIL CHANGES.”

As soon as I walked in, I knew it was a trap. There were 30-some-odd other people in the waiting room (all of whom, I suspect, had come in for their free oil changes). I should have turned around and walked out. I did not. That is because (I wish I could think of a better excuse) I am an idiot.

I walked up to the counter and presented my coupon. Then I heard these evil words:

This coupon also entitles you to a free 3,894 point checkup just to make sure that your car is in perfect running condition. Is that ok?

First of all, I drive a 2001 Buick LeSabre that was given to me for free that is roughly 4,000 (give or take 3,000) miles past its scheduled oil change. I know for a fact that it is not in perfect running condition. Well, to make a long story longer, I agreed and the 3,984 point inspection commenced.

Wouldn’t you know it? I had exactly 3,984 things wrong with my car! What are the odds?? Given that the oil change was free, I’d say the odds were about 1:1 (that’s 100% for those of you who slept through Statistics class).

So how much did that FREE oil change end up costing me? I don’t know yet. I’m currently sitting in a Chipotle, sipping a fine Coke product, waiting for my brake pads to be replaced, my rotors to be machined, and my Tooter Valve to be replaced. My guess is that after today, my son will have no shot at going to college. Sorry, Junior.

The Verdict: The thing that really stinks about this is that I really did need my brakes fixed. Did I plan on doing that today? No, of course not. Did I plan on paying for it today? Not on your life. Is it a good thing that I’m doing it? Yeah, probably so.

Moral of the story? Free oil changes are not free. They will always cost you at least a set of brake pads or wiper blades at a minimum. But, if those are things that you were going to have to do anyway, you might as well get a free oil change out of the deal.

I can almost guarantee that this will happen to me again in the future, but at least I’m not a woman in the same situation, right?

I was working up all kinds of harebrained (and yes, I spelled that correctly) schemes. I was down to the wire when I got the idea to excuse myself so I could go to the restroom. Then, like a Saharan nomad looking for and oasis, I started looking around the restaurant looking for someone that I knew who could spot me some cash (which I would have promptly paid back upon retrieving my wallet). I had no such luck.

There I was, in the busiest restaurant in a town of only 3,000 or so people, and I didn’t know anyone in the restaurant, and I wasn’t going to just ask a stranger for money. After all I had my pride (which I have since realized is an altogether foolish notion). Then, in a moment of divine revelation (*Disclaimer: God had NOTHING to do with this), I looked up to realize that I was about 40 feet away from my date and only 5 feet away from the front door.

What did I do? Well, I won’t spoil the story by giving away the ending, but I will tell you that she and I did not date for very much longer. Now you may draw your own conclusions.

Why do I tell you this story? Simply because I forgot my wallet today for the first time since that day six years ago. It’s miserable. I even made it to the counter of a local restaurant and started ordering before I realized what I had done. How miserable is that? And I was REALLY hungry, too. This time, however, I simply went hungry. Overall, a better decision, but still not without its consequences. I’ll be eating four of these later.

The Verdict: Forgetting your wallet once every six years is certainly not the end of the world. It can make for a miserable day, but if I can choose to see the glass has half full (which I do), then I can say it’s really hard to spend money when you don’t have your wallet with you. And maybe that’s a good thing.

When one day ends, I rarely know what the next day will hold, but I am constantly sure of one thing: whatever the next day holds, it will be very, very busy. Add this on top of the full-time job of being both dad and husband, and sometimes it feels like I don’t even have time to breathe (let alone take some me time).

The Verdict: Most, if not all, of us have had days like this. A good number of us have had strings of days like this. Some of us even spend majority of our days running around like chickens with our heads cut off. It’s this last group that I want to talk to. You know who you are. You’re the guy that ends the year with 13 days of unused vacation time. You’re the guy that leaves home when it’s dark and doesn’t get back home until it’s dark again. Here is some very simple advice:

Stop it.

That’s right. Stop it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know that you need to provide for your family. I know that your work won’t do itself. I know that your boss is constantly breathing down your neck about getting the next big project done. But…

If I’m learning anything through this exercise in understanding the finite nature of life, it’s that we only live once. You only have one shot at spending time with your spouse. You only have one shot at spending time with your kid(s). Make that time count. My advice (and what I’m learning to do) is to take a step back every morning to prioritize my day. If it’s not important, it simply doesn’t get done. My wife and son make the top of that list everyday.

If you’re so overwhelmed by busy-ness, here’s a page that I found that offers some great ideas for de-busy-fying (yes, I totally made that word up just now) your life. Oh, and one more thing: take a day off every once in a while.

Today was no different. We were about to drop our kid off at daycare when the unmistakable odor wafted through the car. Now, I’m about to say something that may make some of you upset. I’m ok with that. My first reaction was that I was grateful that we were on our way to daycare, because changing him wouldn’t be my responsibility.

Ok, ok, go ahead and start judging. But wait until you consider these three key facts:

1. We pay waaaay too much for daycare.
2. Poop is gross.
3. Poop is really, really gross.

Right, but now, imagine our surprise when we checked our youngster to find a surprising lack of poo. Nothing. Nada. Zip. So we just shrugged it off, and left our little goober in the ever-capable hands of his favorite professional daycare workers. End of story, right? Not even close.

About 5 more minutes into our trip, my wife looked at me again and asked that age-old question, “Do you smell that?” The scary truth was that yes, I did smell that. And ten minutes later, I smelled that again. And, then, not only was I smelling that, I was seeing that… all over the bottom of my shoe (and consequently the floormat and the the brake pedal). Yes, I had inadvertently stepped in a big, fat, pile of dog… that.

The Verdict: Depending on whether or not you (we don’t) or your neighbors (they, however, do) own a dog, you unfortunately have a fairly high likelihood of running a real chance at being in mortal danger of perhaps stepping in dog poo at any given moment (holy run-on sentence, Batman). I mean, let’s just face the facts.

• There are 77.5 million domesticated dogs in the United States.
• You have approximately two feet (give or take two).

By the statistics alone, you must come to grips with the reality that you don’t stand a chance. Dog poo is a gross, disgusting thing, and one day, it will end up on the bottom of your foot. Hopefully, just hopefully, you will realize it in a more timely manner than I did.

To be honest, I’m actually impressed that they recognized me (when I knew them, I may or may not have had a pretty rockin’ ‘fro. Today–completely by choice, might I add–I’m totally bald). We talked for a few minutes, catching up about our kids (mine kid is starting pre-school, their kid is graduating college), and then I had to go. It was a completely coincidental meeting, but I’m so very grateful that it happened. It made my day (especially since my scheduled that took place 10 minutes later involved me being to “go f#@k” myself).

Afterward, I got to thinking about how really unlikely it is for me to run into people I know. You see, we live in a metropolitan area that has roughly 2,082,421 people in it. The likelihood of me seeing someone that I know (let alone actually like) is almost astronomical. This, of course, is quite a contrast from where my wife and I used to live. The population of our tiny town near the Middle of Nowhere, MO was right around 2,021 (no, really, it said it on the sign as you entered town). The chance of seeing someone you knew was about 98.56% (and that was on a rough day). All-in-all, it’s a bit of an adjustment when you move from a small town to one that is roughly 1,000 times bigger, but it’s an adjustment that we made without hesitation (I’m sure I’ll get into that more at a later date).

The Verdict: So, depending on the size of town you live in, you may run into old friends all the time. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, my best advice is to certainly cherish these times. Sure, maybe you were planning on a quiet lunch alone, but when the opportunity presents itself to catch up with old friends, we should feel privileged. I’ve gotten to the point that whenever I go to a restaurant, the first thing I do is look around for someone I might know. I don’t usually see anyone, but it’s sure nice when I do. Maybe you could do the same.

…Now, running into that guy that you’ve always wanted to punch in the nose, that’s a different story altogether.

1. Click this link.
2. Cringe.

The Verdict: Let’s face it. We’re everyone’s older (including Billie Joe). No matter how cutting-edge or anti-establishment you were in the 90s, this is no longer the 90s. The bands that used to make our parents cringe are now playing some of the tamest, catchiest, toe-tappin’est music on the radio (yes, I’m looking at you, Rob Thomas). To see Green Day make their own version of Rock Band just puts one more nail in the coffin of my childhood. The sad truth is that most of the bands we grew up with will be heading this direction (if they haven’t already). So put on your suit and tie, go to work for the man, and get ready to take it like a big boy.