List of Things I would Really Like to do But Won’t Beat Myself up if I Don’t Do Them All List

               Well, it’s here. Another New Year is upon us.

               I like New Years. I don’t really feel that much older, and I don’t really feel regrets about what I did or didn’t do this past year. What I do feel is excitement. I sense all these new possibilities. I think about all the new ways that God is going to be at work in our lives in this next year. And I think, what if this will be the year that our Lord returns?

               Pretty cool stuff to think about!

               So, yeah. I like New Years.

               I usually start each year with a list of things I would like to accomplish over the next twelve months. I don’t always complete them all, but that’s OK. I like having goals to look forward to. So as we are now in January 2016, I thought I would ask your indulgence to share my list with you. And, maybe you could even help keep me accountable for when I start to get lazy on my list (usually this happens around Jan 5).

               Keep in mind, these aren’t really New Year’s Resolutions. Most of the things on my list don’t qualify in the “resolutionary” category such as “join the gym”, “lose 10 lbs”, or “quit drinking Mountain Dew”…Resolutions like that last one are simply crazy non-sense.

               So, here goes….my 2016:

 List of Things I would Really Like to do But Won’t Beat Myself up if I Don’t Do Them All List

1.    Get closer to Jesus

This is a daily goal of mine every day every year. If you don’t talk to Jesus every day throughout the day, you should try this in 2016. Amazing how everything else shapes up when this relationship is the #1 priority.

2.      Love my wife and my children more fully and completely

These six people are the greatest blessings God has placed in my life. I want to be the best husband and father that I can be with God’s help.

3.      Read the Bible all the way through in the New Living Translation

Each year I try to a reading plan to read the Bible cover to cover. This year I want to read again the NLT, this is one of my favorite translations for my personal reading.

4.     Help someone every day

I honestly believe that God gives us the opportunities, and I honestly believe for every person I stop to help that I miss several others. I pray that I will see with God’s-Eyes in this New Year.

5.     Date night every week

If you know Heather and I, then you know this is a priority already. Friday night is date night. But in January there are five Fridays this year, and I am out of town four of them. So, we will need to be creative and have date night on other nights. If you’re married let me say that I believe that Date Night is imperative to a healthy marriage (thanks for the adjective help there Heather—that’s why we’re a great team!)

6.     Publish my first book

Getting pretty close on this one. I started a humor book about 10 years ago. I am a big Dave Berry and Lewis Grizzard fan so the writing style is as similar to those great writers as a simple guy like me can get. It should be in print by March at the latest. “The Great All-American Dad Misconceptions”—check it out (and by that I really mean please buy a copy or the Kindle version!)

7.    Write regularly for a publication

I love to write. I can say that this is one of the gifts that God has given me. I can use a bunch of words, both when I write and when I speak (just ask people that have sat through my sermons).

8.    Preach

Yep, I love this too. God is good, all the time. And I get the chances to share what God is doing in my life and teaching me with other people. I am blessed to be serving at an amazing church, Telford UMC, and look forward to another exciting year here sharing the Good News and impacting the community for our Lord.

9.    Mission trip

I hope to be going with one of my children to the Czech Republic this year on a mission trip. I have never been out of the country, so I am excited about this!

               So, that’s my list. Take a minute and think about a few things that you want to do this year, or better yet that you feel that God is calling you to do this year. It’s exciting, and a little scary sometimes. But what a great way to live!

               Happy New Year friends. Thanks for reading, and God bless!

Advent: The already and the not yet

Advent: The Already and Not Yet

Things are getting ready. In fact, they have been getting ready for a while now. The day after Halloween the wreaths went up on the street lights downtown. And now, every local shop is decked out in glitter, glitz, tinsel, and lights. And for good reason, Christmas is coming!

               But it’s not here yet.

               And if you have decorated your house with garland and lights, put up a tree, and hung ornaments, there is a good chance that some of the ornaments or keepsakes that you have sitting out for Christmas you have had for years. Maybe even decades. And those ornaments bring back memories of past holidays. Of course you aren’t reliving the past, but you are remembering the past. And for good reason.

               But the past has already happened.

               And that is Advent.  These four weeks leading up to Christmas are called Advent from an old Latin word (I guess all Latin words a kind of old though) which meant “arrival”. So during Advent we are remembering the “arrival”, or “advent” of the Messiah. We look back to when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and we read the prophecies from Isaiah and the Psalms.

               But this has already happened.

               And that is Advent. These four weeks leading up to Christmas are also a time to look forward to when Jesus comes (arrives) again. One day He will do that. Here’s what Jesus said about himself; “then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and glory. And he will then send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, and from one end of the heavens to the other…But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:30-31, 36)

               Advent is about the first “arrival” of Christ, as well as being about the second “arrival” of Christ. Advent is about the past, but also about the future. But Advent is also about the present. It’s in the present, in there right and right now, that we can look back and look forward. It’s today that we can both remember and anticipate.

               That’s a good Advent word too: Anticipate. It means to wait for something to happen expecting that it will happen, and to be ready.

               I know that part of Advent is waiting for Christmas Day to get here. But that’s not really what it has to be all about. Yes, Christmas Day is an exciting day that we have set aside in our calendars to remember the day that Perfect Love came down from heaven and donned flesh and bones to live as a man and die as a man for us, all of us. But Advent is about being ready. Advent is about anticipating something. Advent is about knowing that what you are waiting for will one day happen, even though you don’t know exactly when that will be.

               Advent is about the already and the not yet.

               So during this Advent, this in between time, what are you anticipating? What are you getting for? How are you getting ready?

               Take some time this week to read John 1:1-18 and Luke chapters 1 and 2. Both of these accounts are about Jesus’ First Advent. Then read Matthew 24-26. All three of these chapters are about Jesus’ Second Advent.

               And enjoy this Advent season. Don’t get so caught up in the rush to Dec 25 that you miss everything else going on. Go to church. Sing Christmas carols. Decorate a tree. Kiss someone under the mistletoe. Light a candle. Relax and think about the fact that Jesus came the first time was all because of His love for you. And when He comes a second time, it will be to bring us all home.

               Happy Advent!