A New Year and Some Specific Challenges

We are less than 11 hours from ringing in a new year as I write this post. In many ways it seems that this year flew by and in some other ways it seemed like this year would never finish. Now I have to try and adjust to write 2009, or 09, and that seems to take longer with each passing year. Some of that is due to the fact that I write fewer and fewer checks each year, and think about it when else do you write out the year?

There were some highlights such as baptism service, baby dedication, seeing new people begin attending, seeing people come to faith in Christ, making a difference in the community and having the community recognize that we are reaching out. There were low moments such begging and begging people to serve and having them just sit there, having to combine some classes because of lack of willing people, losing a very good associate, not having the numerical growth that I thought we should have, seeing so many people hurt by the economic downturn in our area and seeing so much spiritual apathy.

Some things I hope to accomplish this coming year. Read clear through the Bible 2 times in 09. Pray at least 5 hours a week. Read at least 25 books this year. Find a pastoral accountability partner. Win my fantasy baseball league. (Not all my goals are spiritual.) Lose 25-30 pounds by the first volleyball practice in August. (The goal is to get below 200 and I am not sure if that means 25 or 30 pounds as of today.) Preach with greater passion and better preparation. (Don't worry I know how to measure this one.)

I am sure I will add to the list in the coming days. What challenges are you going to embrace this year?