A New Approach to New Year's Goals

Every year at this time, I take time to review the goals I set the previous year and make new ones for the coming year. I typically set goals in five categories: Professional, Financial, Physical, Personal/family, and Spiritual goals. In addition to goals in those categories for the coming year, I also set three-year, five-year, and lifetime goals.

But this year, I decided to try something different. I wondered what it might look like if my goals were focused on partnering with God to cultivate more of the fruit of the Spirit in my life. What would that look like?

First and foremost, I know I must be faithful in prayer, and ask God daily to produce this fruit in my life. So that's pretty much goal number one, the overarching goal. In addition, I outlined in my journal at least one (and in several cases, three or four) tangible goal for 2010 that would, by God's grace and with his help, increase my:

LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULNESS
GENTLENESS
SELF-CONTROL

I thank God--and it is only by his grace--that this fruit is already present in my life because of the Holy Spirit's presence in my life. But I'm excited to follow Christ this year in purposeful, focused, conscious ways to see if I can bear more fruit in 2010. It's gonna be a great year!

Best Books Read in 2009

One of the things I enjoy about each year's end and a new year's beginning is the opportunity to look back on the previous year's reading, and plan the coming year's reading. I'll blog in a day or two about my reading plan for 2010, but first I want to reflect on my favorite books of 2009, of the 69 I read throughout the year. Just to give an idea of what that literary journey was like, it included thirteen leadership (and ministry) books, five classics (by Wells, Dumas, Shakespeare, and Verne), one history, three memoirs, eight children's books, seven contemplative or devotional books, and one collection of poems, among other classifications.

And so, here are the ten I enjoyed most. The list is led by a surprise discovery, one that I absolutely adored, exploring the mystical meanings of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, according to Lawrence Kushner. And, for anyone who would like to know more about why a particular book is on the list, those marked with a † have been reviewed on this blog. Simply search for the title, or go to the category sidebar and click on "Book of the Week" to display all the book reviews and just scroll down until you find the one you're looking for. Also, each book's title is linked to the Amazon or Christianbook. com listing for that title, so you can learn more, read reviews, or purchase the book online.

1. The Book of Letters (A Mystical Alef Bait) (Kushner)

2. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day (Batterson) †

3. Life is Mostly Edges (Miller) †

4. The Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas)

5. If God Is Good (Alcorn) †

6. Axiom (Hybels) †

7. The Way of the Lord (Wright)

8. The Bookman’s Promise (Dunning)

9. The Sign of the Book (Dunning)


10. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Shirer)

Praying with Beads

I love trying new prayer practices. Not all strike a chord with me and draw me closer to the heart of God...but many do, and my prayer life has been enriched in recent years by the discovery of fixed-hour prayer, prayer labyrinths, chant, and more. It's almost as if praying saints of past generations actually knew a thing or two.

I was, therefore, intrigued to discover the book, Praying with Beads: Daily Prayers for the Christian Year, by Nan Lewis Doerr and Virginia Stem Owens. It consists of a compelling and instructive introduction, followed by morning, noon, and evening prayers for use with a string of prayer beads. The prayers follow the Christian calendar throughout the liturgical year.

I purchased an inexpensive string of 34 beads and used the Advent prayers throughout that season, and was wonderfully helped by the practice (the "Additional Sources and Materials" section at the back of the book offers helpful guidance for pricing and purchasing prayer beads). I heartily agree with Phyllis Tickle's endorsement on the back of the book, when she says, "Protestant Christians, whether liturgical or not, will find here not only a missing part of their heritage, but also much counsel and instruction for their future practice of the faith."

(This book was provided for review by the publisher, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)

Christmas Weekend

What a wonderful Advent and Christmas this has been! The Advent Conspiracy has been a miraculous blessing (and I'll report on the final results next Sunday in church and Monday on this blog), and the Christmas Eve celebration at The Loft and yesterday's Sunday celebrations were all glorious.

Like last year, the house was packed...

And the children came in pj's, full of excitement....and gathered in the "Kids' Zone" and entertained us all!

Beautiful music, a well-planned flow of music and video and speaking....

All came to a conclusion with the celebration of communion and a candlelight service, by which time it seemed we were all about to jump out of our skins from the joy of the Lord....

What a blessing. What a wonderful weekend. What a joy to serve God with such people.

And, finally, joy of joys, my grandson Miles sat on my lap in his new Thomas the Train pj's, transfixed while his father led us in "Song to the King," and then said he wanted to go onstage with me when I went back up for the benediction. So I kept my mic muted until the two of us got into place at center stage and I was ready to pray....but at the moment the mic came live, Miles looked down at the luminaries lining the platform and said, "There's fire in the candles!" But then he just looked around at the beautiful candlelit scene while I pronounced the benediction. It's a beautiful thing to share such moments with the family of God.

Church of the Week: St. Gabriel, Nazareth

St. Gabriel Greek Orthodox Church is located in the center of Nazareth, on the main road, near the well that has served Nazareth for millenia. According to tradition, this was the site of the angel Gabriel's annunciation to the Virgin Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus.

In the third Century AD a church was built over the springs, following the tradition that the spring was the place of the annunciation. It was later destroyed by the Arab conquest of the 7th C, and rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th C. Then it was destroyed again after their defeat (1263). In 1767, St. Gabriel Church was rebuilt on top of the ruins of the Crusader Church. The Crusader's stones around the spring were left intact. The spring is located in the crypt of the church.

Pilgrims today can still drink from the spring that Mary would have used, by means of a cup supplied by the church, as our niece Elissa is doing in the picture above, taken on our 2001 trip to Israel.

10 Quick Tips for Doing Leadership as Jesus Led

From the blog of Ron Edmondson:

Jesus was an excellent leader. If I want to really be successful, I need to learn to lead the Jesus way. Here are 10 quick tips for doing leadership as Jesus led:

1. Recruit with big asks
2. Hold followers accountable
3. Challenge the status quo
4. Love the spectacular
5. Lead by example
6. Keep a few tricks up your sleeve
7. Use teachable moments
8. Invest trust into followers and release them to explore
9. Accomplish the mission at any costs
10. Finish Well

I decided not to unpack them for you, but let you think through them yourself. Someday I may share some more thoughts.

Interesting points. He doesn't go for the obvious, like "serve," "love," "forgive," etc., but his points easily suggest scenes from the life of Jesus.