31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 7

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the seventh question, and my answer.

1.      For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year? I will pray most fervently for the salvation of my son and daughter this year. I put my daughter to bed almost every night. We often read a story book that speaks about praying for what we are thankful for that day. At two years old, my daughter often repeats the same list over and over, and then I pray for her list. But, I also pray that she and her brother will come to be in a relationship with Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They are both too young at this point to understand and make such a commitment, but I can and will pray fervently for them to one day make that decision.

31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 6

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the sixth question, and my answer.

   

  What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church? Since I am the pastor of the church, I have to direct the vision for the church family. There are two ways I have told them I want to do that this year. First, we are going to spend the year developing a mission statement, a vision statement, and a purpose statement. We want to be able to have a clear path showing where we are going as a church family and how we plan to get there. Second, I have been developing a very intentional strategy for discipleship. I want our family to be trained and confident to share their faith. I want our family to be strongly rooted in God through the observance of the spiritual disciplines. I want our family to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks them for a reason for the hope found in them (1 Peter 3:15). I have been developing, and will continue to develop this discipleship strategy so that our church family grows and shares our faith in Christ.

31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 5

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the fifth question, and my answer.

5.      What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year? I am sure that there are a multitude of time-wasters in my life. I would have to say, however, that the biggest time-waster is a lack of organization. I would guess that most of the other time-wasters are directly tied to disorganization. In fact, there are many times when I find myself making to-do lists, and then misplacing those to-do lists. Sometimes I can get so overwhelmed by the amount of obligations I have that I can be crippled by inaction. What should I do first? What has the highest priority? What can be left for another day? The problem is that I become so caught up in listing the things I have to do, that I rarely get around to doing those things. So they remain on the list for another day. Another problem is not following things through to completion. Yes, I may start a project (and it might even be the project which should have highest priority in life at that moment), but then I get distracted (often thinking about other tasks) and do not finish the task at hand. It seems that every few months, I am developing a new strategy for getting organized. It seems that I am “spring cleaning” three or four times a year. But I am painfully aware that God is a God of order. His creation is ordered. His word (the Bible) is ordered. His word calls His followers to be disciplined and ordered. If I could just stick to my guns and follow a prioritized to-do list to completion, I would feel a much greater sense of peace. If I could organize my office, or my car, or the junk drawer, or the garage, I think I would be much more effective as my mind is not distracted by the disorder and can better focus on the tasks at hand.

31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 4

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the fourth question, and my answer.

4.      In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it? I want to work on the discipline of meditation. By meditation, I do not mean the emptying of my mind of all things so that I am meditating on nothingness. I mean meditating on God and His word. One of the things I am trying to do this year is to focus my Bible reading on four Bible books – Proverbs, Isaiah, Matthew, and Acts. I expect that I will read these four books at least ten times this year. So, in re-reading these books, I want to slowly take the time to meditate on the words, thoughts, and commands of God in these books. I want to take the time to slow down and really reflect on His word. I also want to spend more time meditating through prayer. It is so easy for my mind to wander during times of prayer. I think about tasks I need to accomplish, or conversations I had last night, etc. I really want to become more focused on God in my prayers as I consider His character and attributes.

31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 3

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the third question, and my answer.

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3.      What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year? This has a simple answer, although putting it into practice will be more difficult. The single most important thing we can do to improve the quality of our family life is to eat dinner at the dining room table more frequently than not. We need to spend time with each other as a family and have discussions as a family. We need to talk about what happened during our days, our frustrations and triumphs, our dreams for the future. While it sounds simple, it may be more difficult to do. We need to get ourselves organized better for this to happen. We need to plan and schedule meals better. We need to decide to do what is best rather than what is most convenient. It sometimes is easier to eat a microwaved meal in the living room around the TV than prepare, cook, set the table and pull the kids away from the TV. But, we need this face-to-face time of bonding.

31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 2

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the second question, and my answer.

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2.      2) What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year? I know that God can help me 1) take control of my anger and 2) relieve my stress or worry over little things that do not really matter. I can get myself so worked up over my children ignoring me, or something someone said to me to which I took offense. I can worry about people’s perception of me. I can get angry over the slightest thing, and lash out unjustifiably. I really struggle in these areas. I know I cannot change them on my own  because I have tried. But God can do these things that are humanly impossible for me.

31 days, 31 questions, 31 answers - Day 1

I read an article by author, professor and theologian Don Whitney that listed 31 questions to consider for a new year. I decided that I will answer one question each day in January. Here is the first question, and my answer.

1.      1) What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God? I do not think that I take enough time to stop and see the greatness of God’s creation. If I take time to see the intricacy of the world God created and the majestic scope of all He created, then I think I will enjoy Him more. So this year, I will take time to stop and see the beauty and the intricacy of the created world. I will spend an extra moment looking at the sunrise or the sunset and notice the hues in the sky. I will marvel at the flower as it sprouts, buds, blooms, and goes to seed. I’ will take time to notice the underside of the flower, or the tree leaf, or the pine cone. When it snows, I will marvel at the fact that every snowflake is unique, and also think about the fact that every fingerprint is unique, that every zebra stripe or giraffe skin is a unique pattern. I will take time to gaze at the stars and wonder at the distance between the stars and the galaxies. I will see the beauty of an unfaceted gemstone. I will marvel at the power of the waves as they crash against the rocks and the shore. I will strive to see the image of God in every man, woman, and child I see. I will contemplate the energy produced by fire, and the destruction that it can bring. I will seek to notice the variety of animal and plant life.