A Happy New Year, Have You

Well, 2014 is no more. 2014 was a monumental year for this here blogger. I mean, I officially let the world know that I had been called into pastoral ministry, I began college to train towards that goal, I grew a beard and found out that trimming is harder than shaving, and I entered the now technologically with my first new computer and a smartphone (what?). 2014 was also the first complete year that this blog ran. So now, what will 2015 bring for me or for the wonderful reader of this here post (see, I'm not against flattery in all circumstances!)?

I have a New Year's Resolution! It's to not stay in bed until late morning/early afternoon when I am on break! I mean, seriously, that shouldn't be a thing that happens ever. But I guess I didn't do well when it came to that. But I feel really refreshed now. 

No, seriously, let's look at New Year's Resolutions a bit more specifically (Yes, when I started writing this post, I had no idea where I was going; yes, it happens a significant amount). So what should we all have as a New Year's Resolution? 

Hey, losing weight or getting all muscular ain't the best goal to give yourself for the new year. How about these goals and resolutions coming from my own repertoire? 

1. You may have gathered that I journal pretty much everything that deals with spiritual disciplines. This was true long before my Spiritual Formation professor made it a class assignment. Thus, I have an opportunity to look back and see how many days I missed reading my Bible this past year. Regrettably, that number is 17. Seeing as how I find that completely unacceptable, I want to set a goal of missing fewer days this year. But more importantly, I want to make sure this goal is actually measurable, so I am going to say that I should not skip more than 10 days. Of course, fewer is always good. 

2. On a similar note, I am looking to get more study of the Bible that goes beyond the "minimum daily devotions requirement." I am in the midst of a lifetime project to... I guess sort of in a way create a biblical resource book. But it has been stagnant for a very long time, as I have let my educational studies stand in the way. So I would like to find a better way of balancing my time now. I mean I can hardly expect more free time as a pastor, so I need to find the time to get more and more biblical study.

3. I want to stop procrastinating/forgetting about my blog posts and then end up posting rather boring blog posts that are more academic than relatable. I'm starting this out well by writing this blog post on New Year's Eve even when I won't be posting it until January 2!

4. While we're on the subject, maybe I should stop switching what I mean by now when writing these blog posts between time of publication and time of writing. That can't be very easy for you to understand.

5. Finally, broaden my influence. Not in the sense necessarily of finding more people to influence, but maybe just actually ensuring that I have a greater depth of influence on each person (and of course that that influence is actually good). That is something that I desperately want to see happen, and I look forward to the opportunity to have more chances (and more help) to accomplish those goals.


These are my resolutions and except 3 and 4, which I put in half-jokingly, they can be yours as well. But you should probably try to personalize it to your own walk with the Lord. All I challenge you to do is to make a resolution to ensure your relationship with the Lord grows this upcoming year.