New Year Resolutions

I've been thinking about making some personal changes in 2009. I need to take better care of myself physically, I would like to pursue some individual projects, etc. In the process of thinking about how to go about making some things happen, I read an excellent blog by Mark Batterson on this subject. Mark is the lead pastor at National Community Church in Washington DC. Here is his blog...

"In the 1960’s, a study was done on the campus of Yale University. The subjects were Yale seniors who were educated about and encouraged to get a tetanus shot. Most of the students were convinced by the lecture that they needed to get the shot. But only 3% actually went and got the shot.

Another group of students were given the same lecture, but they were also given a copy of the campus map with the location of the health center circled. Then they were asked to look at their weekly schedules, make a plan for when they would go and take the shot, and look at the map and decide what route they would take. 28% of that control group got the shot. That is nine times as many! Why the radical increase? Because they identified how, when, and where?
I'm guessing all of us need to make a change going into the New Year. You need to stop doing something or start doing something. You need to do something less or do something more. But I'm guessing about 3% of us will make the change because we never identify how, when, and where!

So here's a plan. It's as simple as 1,2,3.
#1 Look at the calendar and schedule an hour between now and January 1st. Put it on your calendar. Make an appointment with yourself. It may be in the morning or in the evening. It may be at your house or a coffeehouse. It may be on New Years Eve or New Years Day. Just set aside one hour.

#2 Spend an hour reflecting and praying. And here’s a suggestion. Think in categories. I think it helpful to think in these five categories: spiritual, relational, intellectual, emotional and physical. Do an honest self-assessment. And ask God to reveal the answer to this question: what change do I most need to make?

#3 Make the change. Call it a goal. Call it a New Year's Resolution. Call it whatever you want. The goal is to make a change that honors God. Here's a suggestion. Don't make ten resolutions! If you make lots of resolutions you'll probably keep none of them. In my experience, you need to make three or less. And I'd start with the spiritual category.

Once you come up with your resolution you need to write it down. Then you need to keep it visible. Put it on a screen saver. Put it on your bathroom mirror. If it's diet related, put it on the refrigerator. You might even want to find an accountability partner who will make the same resolution. It helps to have someone hold you accountable."

I think this is pretty good advice...now, where can I go and spend that hour?

Start Putting Christmas Away...

Today is a sad day. It's the first day that I started putting away Christmas music, decorations, and other Christmas "stuff". I always hate to say goodbye to the things that make Christmas so wonderful. But time marches on and the new year is "in the wings". The great thing for Christians is that we celebrate Christmas all year long because of the relationship we have with Christ and His coming into our lives. From a church calendar stand point, Easter is the next big event, and we have another opportunity to tell a watching world that Christ lived, died and rose again to put us into a right relationship with the Father. I have been listening to Easter music throughout the Christmas season, and I think I've found an 8 song work that will be perfect for the Easter season. By Easter, April 12th, our nation and the world may be in a very difficult place financially and politically. We may have an unprecedented opportunity to share Christ with the people around us, in a way that has only come after 9/11 or other similar national times of crisis. I think we need to prepare now for this opportunity. So, while it is sad to pack away the Christmas things, it's exciting, and daunting, to think about what may be coming next. Emmanuel, God with us, God for us...

Two Days Until Christmas

I really enjoy these last days just before Christmas. Finishing special events at the church, preparing for the Christmas Eve service, shopping, wrapping gifts, getting the house ready for company and a myriad of other tasks. These all add to the excitement of the season. I still feel like a kid when it comes to Christmas. I love the cooking smells mixed with the scent of our fir tree, candles burning and a fire burning in the fireplace. I enjoy sitting by our tree, checking the lights outside and reading through Christmas cards. I must admit that my schedule doesn't really slow down until 6 PM on Christmas Eve. But after that it's our traditional Mexican dinner with our family, our son Josh and his wife Kelly and Kelly's family. Enchiladas, tamales, chili, beans, rice, tortillas, guacamole and more. After that we're going to settle in with a fire going and watch The Nativity as a family. We'll reflect on the wonderful story of Christmas and then the kids will go off to bed. Then Kathy and I will assist Santa Claus with putting out the Santa gifts and around midnight, Kathy and I will open the gifts that we've picked for each other. We started this tradition several years ago and it is a highlight for us. This time alone is a wonderful time to express our love for each other and to remember the great blessings of God to us and our family. God is good...Emmanuel, God with us. He is for us.

Good Christmas Listening & Viewing

Two posts ago I mentioned some great reading for Christmas. Here is what I'm listening to this year. First, my son Jason, told me about a new recording by Bela Fleck and the Flectones, Jingle All the Way. The Flectones are a blend of bluegrass, fusion and jazz. One of the most unique sounds you will hear is on their song Jingle Bells. Tuvan (from the Russian Federation nation of Tuva) throat singers sing along with the Flectones. The whole album is very unique. I have really enjoyed it. Download it from iTunes for $9.99. Since our Music Department sang 4 of Michael W. Smith's songs this year for our Christmas concert, I have been listening to his album, It's A Wonderful Christmas. His first Christmas album, Christmas, is well worth downloading. The Christmas Collection by El Divo is wonderful. Every year I enjoy watching The Preacher's Wife. Whitney Houston does some superb singing in the movie. I have some of that soundtrack album downloaded as well as her album, One Wish (The Holiday Album). Josh Groban's project from last year is great, Noel. Another favorite group has disbanded :(, Wind Machine. I have worn out two of their albums, A Wind Machine Christmas and Portraits of Christmas. You can still find these Cd's on eBay and other sites, but I couldn't find a download for them on iTunes.

There are some wonderful Christmas movies we love to watch at our house. I love the Alistair Sims version of Scrooge, The Preacher's Wife, Kathy and the girls watch White Christmas, and a new favorite is The Nativity, as well as the oldie It's A Wonderful Life. Whatever you do, take some time to listen to a variety of Christmas music and watch a movie or two, it will do your spirit good.

Christmas Music

This past weekend we presented a concert titled "Emmanuel-God With Us, God For Us". Saturday the concert was attended primarily by people who do not attend our church on a regular basis, and on Sunday morning, it was basically our own church folks. We had 110 vocalists and instrumentalists involved in this year's concert. For a church that averages approximately 400 attendees, I think this is remarkable. In fact, when you consider that our String Orchestra song was played by 6 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos, plus a harp, all from our congregation, it is quite awesome. I feel both humbled and proud, (is that possible?) to work with the people that God has given our church congregation. As we were leaving after the second performance, several people said things like, "I bet you're relieved it's over...". The truth is, somewhere near the end of the last song, in the last performance, a little bit of sadness creeps into my emotions. After 4 months of rehearsing, it's a little sad to put away music you've lived with for so long. Since I begin planning and picking music in the summer, it feels like I'm putting away old friends. Today I'm putting away music stand lights, extension cords, percussion equipment, etc., because we're done, until next year. The main thing is that we had the opportunity to tell the story again, and to set an atmosphere where Emmanuel could touch the hearts and lives of people who were in our congregation during the concert with His love and hope, especially during this holiday season. We had prayed in advance for people to be invited to come who desperately needed to have an encounter with Emmanuel. Time will tell...

Christmas Reading

Over the years I have collected quite a number of Christmas books. Collections of stories, poems and other writings, Christmas fiction and inspirational Christmas writings. I also have a collection of short Christmas stories that I have gleaned from many different sources. I have shared many of these stories with our family, friends, our congregation and other groups. I think it is great to read "the" Christmas story with your family, but also, to share other people's experiences and writings. Here are a few suggestions:
This year Glenn Beck has written a wonderful, true story titled "Christmas Sweater"
Richard Paul Evans has written a number of Christmas novels, beginning with "The Christmas Box" in 1995. http://richardpaulevans.com/richards-books/ lists all his books and descriptions.
Max Lucado has written a number of Christmas books as well. One in particular stands out, "Cosmic Christmas". This is a great telling of the story of Christmas and the Father's love for us.
A collection you may be able to find in the bargain section of the major bookstores is "Norman Rockwell's Christmas Book." There are some wonderful stories that are well worth sharing with your family. A couple of my favorites are The Miraculous Staircase by Arthur Gordon and Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells.

One of my fondest childhood memories is reading books by the light of the lights in our Christmas tree. I would lay on my stomach and get as far under the tree as possible to read whatever book I was currently reading. Since we didn't have a television in our home until I was 14 years old, reading was one of our family's favorite pastimes. While I don't lay on my stomach under our trees now, I still enjoy sitting as close as I can, smelling the scent of pine and reading a favorite book. In fact, that sounds so good maybe I'll do that tonight...

Christmas Lights

I love all the lights at Christmas. For several years, Kathy and I worked at the PTL Network and we had a million lights throughout the park every Christmas. It was wonderful to drive in or out at night during the Christmas season. Here in St. Louis we love going to the Shrine of Our Lady Of the Snows to see the lights, or drive through the Busch headquarters. But I also love the lights on the outside of our house, and on the inside. I enjoy reading or watching television in our living room with just a lamp to read and the mini white lights on. We have them on our tree, on garland on the stairs and on our fireplace mantle. Tonight I sat at the piano in our sanctuary and rehearsed music for this weekend's Christmas concert with just a piano lamp and the white lights on the big wreaths and 12' tree that are in there. After I finished rehearsing, I sat and played for another half hour or so, Christmas carols that I love to play. I've been toying with the idea of recording another piano CD and tonight I was really inspired by the atmosphere as I experimented with different chords and rhythms for some of the carols. I think I'll work on the arrangements through the winter and record next summer. I probably shouldn't bury the mini white lights too far in our Christmas boxes, I might need to pull them out for inspiration when it's 95 degrees outside and humid and I'm inside recording Christmas music.

I think I love the light because of what it does to the darkness. Even the smallest light pushes the darkness away. It is not a wonder that a name for Christ is Light of the World. It is so fitting that we use Christmas lights during this season. Even people who treat this as a completely secular holiday put up lights, symbolizing the Light of the World. If you feel the darkness of the press of life surrounding you, go find some Christmas lights. As you view their beauty, ask the Light of the World to surround you with His light. He will...

Sometimes Life Is Life

Two weekends ago the flu made its way through part of our household. We lost a weekend trying to get everyone well. This weekend, on Saturday, Kathy had to have emergency dental extractions. On Saturday Nicole began complaining of a lot of abdominal pain. I spent part of the day with Kathy at the dentist and then Saturday evening we tried to determine what we needed to do for Nicole. By Sunday morning she could not stand the pain and Kathy took her to the emergency room while I went to church early to begin my normal grueling Sunday schedule. To add to this Sunday, we had a lunch and Christmas rehearsal scheduled for our choir, orchestra and youth ensemble. Since there was a children's musical presented in the 11:00 service, Kathy and I had planned to do all the preparations for lunch so everyone else could hear the musical. Except, now Kathy is at the ER. Physically I'm at the church, but emotionally I'm with Nicole. Kathy is trying to text me and keep me up-to-speed, however, the ER at St. Luke's Hospital is in a basement bunker. It was very hard to get a cell signal. Kathy and Nicole finally got home in the middle of the afternoon, however, Nicole's pain did not lessen at all. They were not convinced that the ER doc had done everything he could have. By Sunday evening, we called the ER, found out another physician was now on the floor, and Kathy took Nicole back. This time they admitted her and she is there tonight, for a second night. We still do not have a diagnosis and Nicole's pain is still fairly intense. I spent the morning with her so Kathy could work at her job for a few hours and then I went to the church to set up the Choir and Orchestra areas so that theatrical lights could be set tonight. Tomorrow we need to complete the setup so we can have our first concert run through on Wednesday evening. Oh, did I mention that this coming weekend is one of the biggest weekends of the year for us? We're doing a major Christmas concert on Saturday and Sunday. As you know, the Christmas season adds its own busyness, and then along comes "life". Life's events do not adhere to schedules or events. Life just happens. I thank God that I can rely on Him for calm, for direction and for help in determining what I need to be doing when my orderly plan has been suddenly shot to pieces. Peace on earth, goodwill to men... thank you, Lord.

Too Much To Learn, So Little Time

I get frustrated at times with all the things I want to learn, but do not have the time to take a class, or sit for hours with a manual. For instance, I would like to have some graphic design skills. I am not an artist, so design comes hard, but computer graphic design has leveled the playing field somewhat. I would love to take some graphic design classes. I would also like to understand the engineering of my computer, and to be able to troubleshoot both the hardware and software. More classes... Or how about home repair issues. Right now I'm having trouble with our furnace at home. There is a lot of great information on the Internet, but there are a few things that I need to know that aren't there. I'm sure there's a class for that. We have a seminary down the street from our church, with a Master's program in Church Leadership with an emphasis on Administration that I would love to begin. And then there is theatrical lighting systems, large hall audio systems and the list goes on and on. Sometimes I feel like I know enough to be dangerous, to myself and the equipment or process I'm working on. I think that what I need to do is to set some priorities for the new year and figure out which things are the most important, and attainable. Then find out which things at the top of the list are affordable from both a time standpoint as well as financially. Sometimes being a "jack-of-all-trades" can be frustrating, but then again, if you are always learning, you can always be productive. Oh yea, there is one more thing I need to learn. High school algebra. When I'm helping our kids with their homework I can usually arrive at the right answer. However, I have no idea how they are teaching algebra these days, and the process of finding the right answer. I wonder if there is a class for that?