A new year, a new start

Let me begin by wishing my readers a Happy New Year. For some of you, you were probably glad to see 2018 end. You think that the new year will have to be better! Overall, our family had a good 2018, but we are praying for an even better 2019 as well.

The new year is always exciting for me because I see in it the opportunities for new beginnings. I start off the year with a fresh, clean calendar on my desk ready to be filled with exciting opportunities. And that is what a new year brings: new opportunities. 365 of them in fact.

I do not make New Year's resolutions. I prefer setting goals, written goals, to help make me more accountable than resolutions. One of my goals this year is to focus more study time on theology. Some might argue that everything a minister studies is theological. That may or may not be true, but we seldom focus our attention on theology itself. It seems I am especially drawn to studying systematic theology. The good news is I have shelves of theology books to read so I don't have to buy new ones unless I run across something I simply must read!

Last year I did not play one round of golf due to my busy schedule. When my schedule eased up a little, I broke a bone in my right foot and still couldn't play. I don't intend to let that happen again this year. Not only do I plan to play golf, but I want to take my wife fishing this year, another thing we didn't do last year due to our schedules. There's not a lot of great places to fish near us, but at least we can drown some worms and relax.

In the past I would set 8-10 goals for the year, and I would work very hard to accomplish each of them. I'm at the stage of my life when I don't need to set that many goals. I want just enough to stay productive and be a good steward of the life God has given me but not so many that every moment is taken up with things I must do.

There is one more thing I still hope to accomplish this year: publish another book. My regular publisher has decided to not publish this one due to a severe cut-back in the number of books they now publish, so I have to find another publisher. I have a proposal ready to go out in today's mail to a new publisher. Pray for me as I think this book will be very helpful to smaller churches and those who lead them.