New Year, New Goals

Debbie often says to me(encouraging me of course) that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I am not sure who she heard that from but I know where I have learned it. It is true. The more we plan the more we are able to be successful. Proverbs 16: 9 says, In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps. I think God expects us to make plans and then leave room for Him to work.

Here are a few goals I want to work on in 2008:

1. I want to read my Bible everyday. There were some days last year that I missed due to busyness or lazyness. This year I am taking an Old Testament/New Testament and Proverb approach. I will let you know how it goes.

2. I hope to learn the value of blogging and become a better writer/communicator. I plan to be disciplined at making regular posts to this site. Do you think Jesus would have blogged?

3. I hope to get better at building meaningful, discipling relationships.

4. I definitely need to learn to be a better listener and thinker.

5. Details, details, details.... I need to pay attention to the details.

6. I have set a goal of reading 25 books this year. My current read list is: Confessions of a pastor by Craig Groeschel, UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, 90 minutes in heaven by DonPiper and The Simple Church by thom s. Rainer & Eric Geiger

7. Lose weight (20 LBs would get me under 200) My Physician, Dr Jeff Wheeler said, studies indicate that if you are at your ideal body weight(my ideal is 185) you have 80% less chance of getting cancer. Come on everyone let's encourage each other to beat these bodies into shape.

8. Become a better husband and dad. This job is never complete. Bethany and Sarah have become such wonderful individual followers of Christ. I need to learn what they need from me at this stage of their lives. ( i know I am supposed to already know but believe me there are days when I do not have a clue what a 21 and 17 year old needs. I am sure boys are easier) Debbie is great. We celebrate our 27th anniversary in 2008. May it be true that God has saved the best for now.

9. Give leadership to Abundant Life Church so that we become a breakout church. We will break the 200 barrier. We've been up and down like a yo-yo. We are going to go from good to great in 2008.