Here are my Top Five lists from 2010. If I am faithful to do this for the next fifty years, it's gonna be great fun and very meaningful to look back on these annual posts.
Top Five Movies I Saw:
(I probably only watched a dozen movies—rented and at a theater—all year, so my pool to choose from is relatively small)
1. A-Team and Star Trek (two fun movies based on 80s shows)
2. The Book of Eli
4. Lie to Me (first two seasons of this intriguing TV show…on DVD)
5. Food, Inc. and King Corn (two movies, similar hard-hitting impact)
Top Five Websites I Visited:
1. Ted.com
2. Ajc.com / CNN.com / USATODAY.com
3. Pandora.com
4. CBSsportsline.com
5. FastCompany.com
Honorable Mention: FollowTheRabbi.com
Top Five Books I Read:
1. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter
2. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination by Walter Wink
3. Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge by Dallas Willard
4. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
5. The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence by Tom Peters
Honorable Mentions:
What Good Is God: In Search of a Faith That Matters by Philip Yancey
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael J. Sandel
The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels
Top Five Restaurants I Ate At:
1. Subway
2. Sweet Tomatoes
3. The Cheesecake Factory
4. Taco Mac (more for the football than the food)
5. Starbucks (not a restaurant and hot chocolate isn’t a meal, but I frequented no eating establishment more often)
Top Five Things I'm Really Glad I Spent My Time Doing:
1. Growing my relationship with my wife and children
2. Being with my church family on Sunday mornings.
3. Tutoring kids at Esther Jackson Elementary School and helping to fund the digging of freshwater wells in Africa
4. Spending time with friends
5. Reading
Fifteen Great Memories
1. Attending my son’s football and basketball games and playing ping pong with him in our basement
2. Tucking my daughter in at night, picking her up from school, and riding bikes with her in the neighborhood
3. Playing Yahtzee, watching movies, and times of laughter with my wife
4. Thanksgiving Day with 31 relatives in North Carolina
5. Two Hilton Head Island vacations with family and an afternoon Braves Game with my dad
6. Teaching from the scriptures on Sunday mornings and 10:30am discussions with the high school group
7. Talking on the phone with my parents
8. Dedicating my nephew, William, to God
9. Sunday nights at Taco Mac with friends
10. Early morning conversations with friends over coffee, Wednesday lunches over backgammon with Carlos, dozens of phone conversations with SteveW
11. A Wells for Africa jug filled with coins and surrounded by smiling faces of children
12. A wonderful, warm and perfect Christmas brunch with my church family at Altobelli’s
13. Conversations with George and Dianne
14. A blistering hot August Braves game with friends
15. Christmas Day Snow
