Our 2008 Letter

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Greetings friends,

Merry (belated) Christmas!  2008 has been a truly remarkable year for the Nelsons. As I (Elliot) sit here, I wonder how best to convey the magnitude of the momentous events of the year. Do I review the year month by month? Do I write a paragraph for each person? Or what about a nice, concise bullet point list or top ten list? Perhaps something eccentric, like an extended postmodern haiku. Ahh, then again, maybe not. Well, here goes…I’ll resort to the traditional “paragraph for each person.”

Emily, 13, went to a new school for 8th grade this year, which she described as “slightly less painful.” Fortunately, other events in Emily’s life outweighed the unpleasant experience of being educated. Emily still enjoys riding horses – recently she has been riding Magic and Lacy. She was captivated by the Twilight book series and devoured the first three books in mere hours. Emily is also an avid fan of the Robin Hood TV series. She told me she enjoys “clothes and designing” – how girly. The big event for Emily this year was getting a new dog in October, a cocker spaniel puppy named Charlie (also affectionately called Charles Quentin Xavier). I wouldn’t have to tell you all this if you were Emily’s friend on facebook. In fact, all the Nelsons except Cheryl are now on facebook.

Jeremy, 16, has raised his lacrosse workout regimen to a whole new level – nay, a higher mode of existence. Sweat dripping, chest heaving, he works on, running miles upon miles, benching train cars just like Mr. Incredible, hour after grueling hour of sniping squirrels with lacrosse balls in order to perfect his aim, until at last the gas tank is empty and he simply falls, unable to move or think at all. He makes that giant Russian guy from Rocky IV look like a mere child. Of the increase of his lacrosse skills there seems to be no end. At this rate, Jeremy is on track to achieve his goal of becoming a professional lacrosse player. I’ve stopped working in the hopes of being able to mooch off of his fame and wealth in a couple years. On another note, Jeremy traveled to Logan, West Virginia with our church youth group to serve underprivileged families by running a day school for kids and repairing houses.

I am in my final year at Wheaton College, where I am majoring in physics and minoring in math and biblical/theological studies. This past year I especially enjoyed my physics seminar class, for which we read and discussed Science and Theology by John Polkinhorne. After long deliberation, I decided to apply for graduate school in physics next year. I am currently living in an apartment with three awesome guys, who have challenged me and helped me to grow as a person. One big thing for me this year has been reading theology books in my spare time (especially books by John Piper and C. S. Lewis – I was also able to take a class on Lewis at Wheaton this fall) and writing my blog, which has helped me to sort out and express my worldview. I have really learned a lot this year about God’s character and his redemptive purposes in history.

When asked what she has done this year, Cheryl thought it over for 20 minutes or so and couldn’t think of anything. We do know, though, that Cheryl has enjoyed helping to plan worship services, bible studies, and prayer team events, and developing ministries at our church. She enjoys getting to know new people at church and inviting church friends over to our house. Cheryl has read numerous books this year, ranging from John Stott’s Why I Am a Christian to the Twilight series, which she read along with Emily. Recently, we have observed that Cheryl frequently yawns when she talks, and that she will go to almost any length to get coffee, if she so desires it.

Peter continues working as senior pastor at Goshen Baptist Church, where he has enjoyed preaching through the book of Acts throughout the year and working with a great staff team, including a new youth pastor. Peter missed the deadline for completing his book for the second time. When asked how work is coming on the book, he described his progress as “highly limited, very minimal, exceedingly modest...lame.” He has somehow managed to convince his publisher that the book will be so good that it is worth waiting for indefinitely. Peter’s attention was diverted for some time by the disproportionately huge amount of news coverage given to swimmer Michael Phelps (the so-called “greatest Olympian of all time”) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which he described as “suffocating and exploitive.” Although an avid blogger, Peter only moderately increased his number of blogs this year, and is doing all he can to control his ongoing addictive impulse to create a new blog about whatever happens to entertain him at the present moment. Peter still enjoys taking pictures as an amateur photographer, and has posted a sample of his photos at peternelsonphotos.blogspot.com.

Charles, our new dog, enjoys chewing on things. We have encouraged Charles to think about the fact that he exists, and to come to terms with his identity and purpose as a dog, but he has put off the task indefinitely and continues to take his existence for granted.

That’s all for now! To find out more about the thrilling roller coaster ride that is our lives, and to see some pictures and videos from our year, go to 2008nelsons.blogspot.com.

We would love to hear how each of you are doing or what God has done in the past year in your lives.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Peter (peterknelson@gmail.com) and Cheryl (cherylbj@gmail.com),

Elliot, Jeremy and Emily

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“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” – Luke 1:31-32

“You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14