I like new beginnings. No matter how well things went in the past and how well I think I did, there are always a ton of things that I messed up on and many areas that I could do so much better in. As I look at all of the failed goals and poor decisions of the past, I can think of dozens of ways to do better, so with a new beginning, here is my chance to at least improve, if not knock it out of the park.

The desire to improve, get better, and grow is a very good desire and one I believe God put into us by design and creation. Over the years of living, we can cause that desire to increase, and we can cause it to decrease, even to the point that it is almost dead. In Revelation 3, Jesus is talking to the church of Laodicea, and He says that because they are lukewarm, He will spit them out of His mouth. A person is lukewarm when their desire to grow and to accomplish more is mainly gone.

That is a sad place to be, but many Christians are there. One main reason is that many people fear personal failure, and striving to get better at anything is extremely intimidating, so they coast and stay lukewarm.

A very effective way to increase our desire to grow and improve is by writing goals for our lives and then reading those goals every day. It is a simple thing to do, and it works very well. Give it a shot this year.

I was reading the other night in my Bible in 2 Peter 3:10-14, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.”

And I thought, after reading those verses, we get all in a tither about the order of the various parts of the future, prophecy. Still, the multiple writers of the Bible didn’t seem to care about the sequence of events and often made it even more of a mystery by the way they wrote it. ‘why would that be? They were much more interested in the life change that would take place in believers as they thought about the end of all things as we now know them and standing before Jesus the King. The thought of standing before God and giving an account of my life makes me very nervous and apprehensive. That fear motivates me to be faithful and to work hard at serving the Lord; I want to do well when I stand before Him at the end of my life.

On Christmas Day, our son Sam, his family, Patty, and I watched the movie ” The Boys in the Boat.” It was the story of eight young men struggling financially to attend college at the University of Washington during the “Great Depression” in the 1930s. They were living in abandoned cars, putting cardboard in the bottom of their shoes because of the holes in them, and eating in the public soup kitchens prevalent during the Depression. They entered the group tryouts in an attempt to make the eight-man crew team for the University because of the offer of a full scholarship, and successfully made the team. The story revolves around their hard work and practice to qualify for the 1936 Olympics in Munich, Germany, and win the gold medal. The main thing in their long hours of practice and training wasn’t as much in their physical strength but in the team’s unity while rowing. The oars had to enter the water at the same time; each man needed to pull hard but the same as the rest of the team and then exit the water together. One of the guys was struggling with family issues, and it messed with his head to the point that he wasn’t focusing on his part in the team’s unity, and they were doing poorly because of it. He overcame the problem because of the encouragement he received from a team member. Another guy got so sick on the day of the big race that he could hardly row, but again, he overcame it because of the team’s encouragement.
The movie was an excellent example of what God intends a church to be like. The power of a church is in its unity. The unity that the Bible emphasizes between disciples of Jesus isn’t simply the absence of conflict, but the presence of proactive working together to win the prize. The prize is reaching people with the gospel and seeing them become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus talked about the unity of encouraging the weary, praying for those struggling in life, and fitting in humbly with others as we strive for common goals.

For most of my years as a Pastor, I was always in a hurry, pushing to get as much done in a day as possible. I have been obsessed with accomplishing as much with my life as I could before I stood before Jesus at the “Judgment Seat of Christ,” gave an account to Him for my life, and was rewarded for what I had done with my life for Him. It wasn’t necessarily an obsession motivated by fear, but similar to what an athlete would go through in his quest to win the Olympic gold medal. The verses that described me best were 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim; I box in such a way as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
Sam, our son, his family, Patty, and I went to a movie on Christmas Day. The name of it was “The Boys in a Boat.” It was the story of eight young men struggling financially to make it through college at the University of Washington during the Great Depression in the 1930s. They turned out for tryouts to make the rowing team for an eight-man crew because of the offer to get a college scholarship. The story is about the work they put in once they made the team in an effort to win the Olympic Gold during the 1936 Munich Olympics. It was a very inspirational story of the power of the desire to win. I just about tore the arms off the theater chairs as I attempted to help them win in the races during the movie. When I was younger, I would get down and depressed when things weren’t going well in the church, and I felt like quitting and giving up. I would rent all of the “Rockie” movies, watch them all in one sitting, and get all jazzed up again. The desire to win is a God-given desire, and when it doesn’t get contaminated with selfish pride, it is an incredible motivation and power to accomplish great things with our life for God.
One of the sad things for me now is that the emotional drive I had in my 20s through my 60s to win in life is mostly gone now. I still have an intellectual understanding of what I need to do, but it is so much harder to get motivated to do it than it used to be. Now, I do what I am supposed to do and what I believe God wants me to do, but I do it much, much slower.

I like breaks and a change of pace for a little while. The time between Christmas and New Year is the kind of break I like; it’s not a total shut-down, just a little slower pace for a week. I have been sleeping in until 8:00 am, visiting with family a bunch, playing some mindless games, painting on my paint-by-number picture, and reading a frothy novel that has absolutely no redeeming value.
These breaks from the usual schedule result in renewed energy and passion for me when they are over. I have a really busy January, February, and March coming up, and I was not looking forward to it, but now I am with gusto.
Back in the days when I ran marathons, I found that taking a one-minute walk break every mile resulted in a faster finish time than if I ran continuously.
Mondays are my usual weekly break; once a month, I try to figure out an extra day break like steelhead fishing, working on my car all day, or driving someplace fun for the day with Patty. During the summer, I take a month to ride my bicycle on a more extended trip and usually also take a trip to Alaska to fish for salmon and halibut.
Right now, I have all of 2024 planned. Every day of the year has at least one thing written in the square. It can change, but it usually doesn’t change much.
One thing that would change everything is if Jesus came back and took us to heaven now, that would be a break.

2 Peter 1:5-8 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice the word “useless” in the last sentence in this passage. I am memorizing the book of 2 Peter, and I am now just finishing up chapter one. I am reviewing these verses every day. There are four different places in the New Testament that talk about being useless or useful for doing God’s work, and every time I review this verse, I get a bit melancholy thinking about how I am doing in my growing as a child of God, and if I could do better than I am. I know that being useless or useful is not an either/or situation, and that I can be on the useful side of the line, but I also know I could be way more useful than I presently am. The key is the phrase, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing,” I might have these qualities , but are they increasing? It is easy to be self-deceived, thinking I am doing fine, when in fact, I am really plateaued. I do not want to be satisfied, plateaued, content with where I am and with what I have done. “Increasing, increasing, increasing, increasing, that word haunts me.

Tonight, when we got home about 9:00 pm from our Santa Claus rounds, I went out and lifted weights for an hour. I do that three times a week; I ride my stationary bike for an hour twice a week and run for an hour twice a week. I would rather do about a million other things than any of those three, but I do them anyway because I feel better and have more energy if I faithfully do those disciplines. The same applies to my Bible reading, Scripture memory, prayer time, book reading, church attendance, and not eating sugar or gluten.
One of the basic principles of life is that what you sow is what you reap. If you sow good seeds of a disciplined life doing those things that bring spiritual growth, God’s blessings, energy, health, and healthy relationships, you will be a person who bears much fruit for God and is full of His joy.
Jesus said in Matthew 7 that the narrow, hard way brings life and success, but few people choose that way; the broad, easy way results in failure and sadness, and most people enter that path, sad but true. And the unfortunate part is that those who enter the broad way often blame others for the resulting problems in their lives.

I have started writing some of my goals differently than others. Many of my goals start simply with “I will,” such as “I will finish the 1969 Ford Mustang with my grandson, Isaac.” But some of my goals I put in groups that begin with “My heart desires,” such as;

My heart desires to make Patty very happy by loving her the way Jesus loved the church and gave Himself up for her.
– I will do that by praying with her three times a week minimum.
– I will do that by taking her on a date at least twice monthly.

My heart desires to know Jesus intimately, more every day of my life.
– I will do that by reading twelve chapters in His Word every day.
– I will do that by praying for one hour with Him daily.
– I will do that by examining my life and confessing all known sins to God daily.

My heart desires to be wiser than Solomon so that every choice I make is the best.
– I will pursue that desire by spending thirty minutes daily memorizing and meditating on His Word.
– I will seek that wisdom by reading 100 pages weekly in good books.

I want to motivate myself by reading my goals, and I have discovered that grouping the goals under the motive for pursuing them motivates me much more than simply committing to doing them.

Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Jefferson Baptist Church has no services tonight or Sunday morning, but we have two Christmas Eve services at 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Sunday evening. So, Patty and I will attend Grace Bible Fellowship’s service at 11:00 am in the morning. That is the church our son Sam pastors in Stayton, which meets in the High School. We will go to JBC’s 4:00 pm service, and then we will drive to Albany and go to JBC’s daughter church, Agape Family Fellowship’s Christmas Eve service at 6:00 pm. That will be a full day of attending worship services on Christmas Eve, and I am sure that we will enjoy and be blessed at each of the three services.

I woke up this morning and immediately started thinking about the choices that I needed to make today. I have a limited amount of time and money, so many decisions revolve around how to spend both wisely. With Christmas almost here, there are many places to spend money, things to do, and places to go. There is about twice as much to do that I can fit into my schedule, and easily four times more places to spend money than we can afford. So pick and choose. I have often been tempted to assign different options a number and then roll some dice to decide. That sounds sort of fun, in a weird way, but Patty wouldn’t go for it.

Wisdom knows what the best choice in every situation is, so I pray for wisdom every day, seek it diligently from many sources, and then when I can’t postpone any particular choice any longer, I pull the trigger, choosing the best that I know how and go from there.

There is a small lake in Yellowstone that has two exits. Water enters the lake from springs, and then half of the water exits on the East side and ends up in the Atlantic Ocean, and half exits on the West side and ends up in the Pacific Ocean.

Choices can be like that, a small choice that can be made in two different ways, with the result for each choice being as far apart as the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Mmmmmm maybe I should use the dice method, then I wouldn’t be responsible for the outcome.

By the way, speaking of choices, My brother Cliff, his wife Kathy, and I will ride our bicycles South through Oregon, into California, then into Nevada, then East into Utah, then North into Idaho, and then West back home. It is a 2400 mile loop and will take us 40 days. We were going to do it without a support vehicle, but now we have a 25-foot motorhome available to use, but we need someone to drive it. We are planning on leaving May 20th, email me at duke@jbc.church if you have any interest in having an adventure with me.