Catching Up with Me

It's been awhile since I posted last so I'll catch you up on what's been happening in my world since:

CHRISTMAS
I had a fantastic Christmas: great Christmas Eve services, Naomi was home, and Christmas Day was restful and meaningful as I interacted with family. I kept thinking all day, "Brother, I'm the most blessed guy on the planet today!" I love Christmas and the Christ who came so I could celebrate it!

MAKING IT ALL WORK
I took time between Christmas and New Year's to get away and work on the six horizons of focus and the synthesis of it all in my life. I was able to map out and capture Projects, Next Actions and short-and long-term goals from the runway to the 50,000 ft horizon of focus. For the first time in my life, I have a complete system in place to help me strive toward becoming "Captain and Commander" of the experiences God sends my way this year. I've regained a sense of control and perspective after one of the the most challenging and somewhat quizzical seventeen months of my forty-seven years on the planet. I look forward to 2009 and what it will hold for me and my family. (P.S. If this last paragraph means little to you, read "Making It All Work" by David Allen and it will come into better focus!)

FOSTERING A FULLER TRUST
I've been gaining a clearer perspective on my life and my ministry in these months since leaving Canada and Corinth. While only a handful of people know the complete story behind our departure from our homeland and home church, God is most keenly aware of it all and has been faithful in helping me process my experiences (and the people who've contributed to them) and He's aiding me in being able to foster a fuller trust in His Romans 8: 28 purposes for my life. A deeper sense of divine purpose and personal settledness pervades my life these days and pain is giving way to gratitude to the One who is using it all for greater Kingdom good. As hard as it is to believe that I could ever say this, I'm thankful for the Genesis 48: 8a and Genesis 50: 20 understanding I'm gaining at this stage of my personal, spiritual journey.

LAUGHTER
I have prayerfully added a new core value to my personal mission: FUN! I forgot how to laugh for too many months and it caused a dearth of joy in my life. As God has pruned and picked at other areas of my life, He has also chosen to open up a wellspring of joy that washes over me much more often of late. I look for and find the humor in life and see God using it in my ministry to help settle people and lift them above the trial of their unfortunate circumstances. This was made clearer to me after feedback from a hospital visit to a heart patient last week. God has a sense of humor - and it's healthy to be like Him!

If you've read this far, thanks for your time. If you gave up reading about me, then you've moved on to the sports page and really don't care what I write about in this last line!