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.

One of my favorite theological topics to teach about is the “Judgment Seat of Christ.” I haven’t blogged about it for awhile so it is time.

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

This judgment is just for Christians following the rapture of the church.

This judgment has nothing to do with salvation; only those saved will be at the “Judgment Seat.”

Some believers will receive many rewards, and others will receive none.

Sin will have consequences at the judgment, “according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

That is why I am so careful to confess all my known sins to God daily so they will be forgiven and not appear at the “Judgment Seat.”

There will be significant differences between believers in heaven because of the presence or absence of rewards.

There will be seven areas of difference, but the most important one to me is the difference in our proximity to Jesus. I want to be very close to Him.

Every day, I am very motivated to serve the Lord because it could be my last day to do anything rewardable by Jesus, my Savior, and my judge.

I was talking to a person who struggles with getting depressed in the wintertime when it gets rainy and dark; in fact, I know many people who struggle with that. I go through times when I am flat and unmotivated; I bet most people have those seasons in their lives for various reasons.

I wonder if Jesus did? He never sinned, but going through downtimes isn’t a sin any more than getting a cold is. The Bible says He experienced all that we do, and because of that, He can sympathize with us and come to our aid when we cry out to Him.

Many of the Psalms are a prophecy of the words and emotions of Jesus when He lived His life, and the Psalms are filled with words like “dismayed, bowed down, pining away, my bones are bowed down, my heart is forlorn, and many others.” In almost every event of the Psalmist being down the response was prayer, asking God for strength, joy, peace, and direction. For me, when I am feeling unmotivated and lethargic prayer is almost spontaneous, like the only response that seems reasonable.

Psalms 6:2-9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away; Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed; O Lord, rescue my soul; I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief; For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication, The Lord receives my prayer.

I have a lot of tools. I have carpentry tools, which I used today as I built a deck. I have automotive tools for the engine, for the electrical, for the interior, for the body, and painting. I have bicycle tools and a few tools to repair my glasses. I have sheetrock tools and concrete tools. I have gardening tools and tools for cutting firewood.

My Dad used to say the key to doing an excellent job on almost anything is having the right tools and knowing how to use them.

My favorite of all my tools is goals. Goal setting is the best tool for the most critical job, changing my character and life into the character and image of Christ. Nothing I do to be proactive in my growth is as effective as my goals.

I write them prayerfully and thoughtfully and read them regularly and often. I strategize on how to accomplish them and work on them faithfully and diligently.

It is so easy to get in a rut. A rut is where we do pretty much the same thing over and over and over and over and over. We get in ruts because it is easy and comfortable to do the same thing over and over. After all, we have become experts because we have done the same thing repeatedly.
The problem with ruts is that they go downhill; the quality and volume become less and less. It is a law of life; brainless activity becomes unchallenging, leading to mediocrity.
Some of my goals for my goals are to make a goal to do something I have never done before, another goal is to learn a skill that I have never learned before, and another one to go someplace that I have never been before. Those three goals take a lot of thought and planning, and I think about what they might be all year long. As I read books, listen to videos and podcasts, and read magazines, I am looking for ideas for these three goals.
That is how I came up with the goal of riding a motorcycle, hitting all the lower 48 States in 30 days, and camping each night. I also made a goal to learn how to make soap, and I did that for several years. I learned how to keep bees and had two hives for five years. I have ridden my bicycle in 40 of the lower 48 states. I have been to 38 different countries, Hawaii, Alaska, and all of the Canadian Provinces.
Doing something you have never done before, going somewhere you have never been before, and learning a new skill won’t happen without making goals. Without a goal, you won’t plan when to do it, how to pay for it, and how to make it happen. It could be as simple as learning to knit, paint, or take a college class.
Most never get out of their rut except for a vacation to a different place once a year, which is undoubtedly not bad, just not enough.