2011: New Year, New Focus
I'm not a big believer in New Year's Resolutions. Mainly because of the fact that I worked at a rec center in college and every year we'd get back from winter break and the fitness centers would be packed...like, couldn't move...then middle of February or some time earlier it was back to the people that were in there before break. Resolutions are usually made with fair intention but rarely make it the full 365.
With that said, I do love the start of a fresh year, especially since I graduated college and am no longer on the schedule where the "new year" begins in September. 2010 was so exciting. I remember, about a year ago, it was Dec 31 and I was sitting in the large ballroom at Campus Crusade's regional winter conference in Minneapolis. I was sitting there with my parents, my fiancee, three days away from an interview for the Page Program in CA, and Pastor John Piper took the stage and gave a talk on holy ambition.
I remember sitting there after that night thinking - "2010 is going to be awesome." A semester on staff, a marriage, a move, and a new job happened and now I'm sitting wondering what this year has in store. It isn't really clear but it doesn't need to be.
"You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what he is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely." Oswald Chambers
Each year at his church Piper uses the weekend before and after the first of the year to challenge his congregants to have the best year they've ever had in prayer and in the word. I like the idea. Instead of making a commitment I won't keep like - I'm going to wake up each morning and pray for two hours - just set a goal of growing closer to God through prayer in the upcoming year than I ever have in my life. Worked pretty well last year so I'm taking those two challenges and adding another.
In 2011 I hope to get into the richness of the word and prayer deeper than I ever have in my life.
In 2011 I hope to be a better husband than I have ever been.
All of these things will only come out of an understanding of who I really am in Christ. An understanding that I am solely defined by God Almighty. I am set free from the world's pressures and expectations. All that I have has been given by God, for God. And I've been placed on this earth on mission. I am his, absolutely and irrevocably.
