Goals for 2012

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Have you set some goals for 2012?  I have.  I think that everyone should set goals.  If you don’t set goals, you can lose out on every bit of potential in becoming who God wants you to be.

I recently preached a message on setting goals that line up with God’s goals which you can listen to here.

But enough shameless self promotion.  Here are my goals for 2012:

  • Read 52 books over the year, one a week.
  • Start a seeker small group.  I’ve been reading Garry Poole’s book Seeker Small Groups and I’m fascinated by the idea of this.
  • Play more with Josh.  We don’t play enough together, and I want to do that more by focusing on specific time with him.
  • Romance my wife.  I chose her 12 years ago, and I want to let her know that I still choose her by pursuing her as if we were dating.
  • Pay off all credit card and car loans.  This one is a long shot but we’ll see.
  • Phone people on their birthday.  I usually send cards once a month to the people in my church and phone the people closer to me.  This year, I’ll expand that list.  I’m adding reminders into Google Calendar and Remember the Milk every month now.
  • Blog bi-weekly.  This one is a long shot but we’ll see.

What goals have you set for growth in 2012?

A Baby, A King, Emmanuel

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Last night, I had to take Josh to the mall in search of some new clothes and shoes.  The mall was packed – wall-to-wall shoppers, people looking sweaty and harried as they tried to navigate the crowds, everybody carrying multiple bags of stuff.  As Josh and I sat and munched on our pretzel sticks, I couldn’t help but think of how happy I was to have done some of our shopping online, and to be making the rest of our gifts.  This year’s “shopping” has been so much less stressful.  And as a result, my focus has been less on the “stuff” of Christmas, and more on the substance of Christmas. Continue reading →

The World at Your Guest Room Door (or, Why host a missionary in your home)

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This past week we had the privilege of hosting two international workers (the terminology our denomination uses to refer to missionaries). It’s something I personally really enjoy doing, and I wanted to give you a few reasons to do it if the opportunity comes across your path!

  1. International workers are real people!  Sometimes we carry around an unrealistic version of what an international worker really is: a super-christian who never sleeps and is always talking about Jesus, they miraculously live on pennies a day and never need to buy new clothes. Right?  Actually, they’re just like you and I, only they are living out the call of Jesus on their lives in a different country.  They take care of their spouses and kids, they work hard, they like a fun games night now and then, they have bills to pay, they want to help the people around them know Jesus, and some of them really like going shopping!  They miss things like certain foods that are only available here at home, and they enjoy a good laugh like the rest of us!  When you have an international worker stay in your home, you get a unique opportunity to get to know them as a whole person.  Don’t pass that chance up! Continue reading →

Love this time of year

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Football, baseball playoffs, hockey about to start…..

Gotta love it. Now if the leaves falling would just rake themselves.

PS – Do you have in the playoffs? I’m rooting for Roy Halladay the Phillies.

Thoughts from the E.R.

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Josh’s Saturday afternoon playdate came to a sadly abrupt end when he somehow landed on his foot weird on the trampoline. We went home, iced it down, gave him ibuprofen… and it just didn’t seem to be getting better. It turns out that what I thought might have been a bad stubbed toe was a dislocated toe that may or may not have a bit of a fracture on one of the bones. We hit the ER at about 7, hoping to beat all of the usual Saturday “festivities” that happen at the emergency room, and we stayed until 2 am. Yeah… anyway… some thoughts that occurred while we waited.

Continue reading →