The future God has planned for you is far better than any you could ever imagine for yourself.

In 15 and a half years of youth ministry, I’ve told my teens this truth countless times.  It is the thesis statement of my ministry, the one thing I hope they will take away from our time together.

Today, I’m being reminded of that truth myself.

Moments ago I tendered my resignation to the board of the Middletown Church of the Nazarene, my family’s church home for the last eight years. And while there was a little sadness in doing that, there was far more excitement, both for myself, and for our church.

It was exciting for me because, on Sunday, I accepted the call to pastor the Anderson Southdale Church of the Nazarene.  I am excited about the opportunity to lead these people of God in service to their community and world as together we share the good news about Jesus Christ.  I am excited about being able to continue to work closely with my friends and colleagues at the Middletown Church and the others on our zone so together our churches, as part of His Church, can take hold of God’s Kingdom and move it powerfully forward. I am excited because it is always exciting to follow faithfully after the call of God.

And I am excited for the Middletown Church.  Something that has come up frequently in the conversations between my Pastor and I as we moved toward this transition is that if it is God’s will for me to serve the people of Southdale, it’s also God’s will for the Middletown Church to make a transition as well.  His plans are perfect, and His plan for me doesn’t in any way jeopardize His plans for the church.

I can’t tell you how many times in my ministry I have come back to John 14:12. In it Jesus tells his disciples (who were themselves facing a significant transition):

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

When following God, the future is always brighter. Jesus repeatedly promises “greater things than these” to his people who do his work.  And despite how great these years in Middletown have been, there are greater things than these in store for me.  And there are greater things than these in store for the great people of the Middletown Church.

So to my friends and family who are the Middletown Church of the Nazarene, I want to say thank you.  Thank you for what has been 3213 of the best days of my life so far. Thank you for the opportunity and honor of being able to serve alongside you for these years.  Thank you for the love, encouragement and support you have given us and our ministry. Thank you for letting us become a part of your lives, and thank you for continuing to make room for us even after this transition.  We love you.

And to the people of both the Middletown and Southdale congregations, I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in the future, because His future is always better.

You may have noticed I suddenly went from a post every week day to a week and a half of nothing.  It was family vacation time.  Our oldest son is in eighth grade, so the Buhro academy took an extended field trip to Niagara Falls and Washington, DC.  I tried to work ahead a cue some posts for while I was gone, but there simply wasn’t enough time, so you got nothing. But we’re back, and I’m ready and eager to start writing again.  In case you’re interested, here’s a video of the photos from our trip.  Individual photos can be viewed on Flickr.  The video itself was made with Animoto, and I continue to strongly recommend it for those in ministry. It’s a great way to showcase photos from your church.

I’ve had a flood of messages coming in from people wanting to know my 2011 bracket picks so they can ride my prescience to victory in their bracket contests…

Actually, no one has asked, and that’s probably a demonstration of wisdom on their part.  However, in the interest of accountability, here’s my picks.

Of course, I should probably warn you, I have a tendency to pick who I want to win, rather than who I think will win.  I’m not willing to root against my favorite teams just for the sake of preserving my bracket.

And in case you were wondering, here’s what I was wearing while I made my picks…

Yesterday I wrote about some of the best years of my life.  But reminiscing about the good years doesn’t quite make up for the fact that 2010-2011 has been one of the hardest years of my life so far.

Don’t get me wrong. My family is blessed in more ways than I can fully count. But for a number of reasons the past 12 months have been some of the most difficult I’ve faced.

I shared just a little over a year ago that due to the ongoing downturn in the economy and its effects on giving at our church, I and the rest of the paid associate staff at Middletown Church of the Nazarene would be facing a 50% reduction in salary. I said at the time that we were hoping it would be a short term adjustment. “Who knows,” I wrote last year “where our church will be financially a year from now?”

The answer is in pretty much the same place, at least in terms of finances. Due to the budget cuts, we’re not under the constant pressure of giving not keeping up with expenses, but that’s only because we’ve cut expenses by cutting salaries, not because giving has increased significantly.  54 weeks later, my teammates and I are still living with less.

The rational part of me knows that a 50% cut to one of our family’s two incomes is far better than what many of my friends and family have had to deal with in the last few years.  I really am blessed beyond what I deserve.  And it’s an honor and a privilege to be a part of a ministry as vibrant and visionary as that here in Middletown.  But I would be lying if I said the financial changes haven’t brought added stress to myself and my family.  I’m ashamed to admit that even though rationally I understand the difference between cash on hand and cash flow, there have been moments that emotionally I’ve resented the projects our church has undertaken this year while my family struggles to cope with the cuts.  It’s hard to watch as the tax software points out “This year your household income is down $XX,XXX” and not think about how the past year would have been different if only…

I don’t share all this because I think what our family has faced is exceptional.  In fact, just the opposite.  I expect that, chances are, you know what our family has been going through. You know what it’s like to feel guilty for feeling sorry about your situation while there are so many out there worse off.  You’ve also probably found yourself wondering just how honest you should be when someone who knows your situation asks “How are you doing?”

And if that’s not your current reality, you probably have been there before.  And I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but chances are you’ll find yourself there again.

Here’s the Good News

Recently one of my teammates on the staff at MCON, Dr. Benton Ruth, shared a passage of scripture at staff meeting that caught my attention and has been rattling around in my brain ever since.  It was Joel 2:25 which says:

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm—
my great army that I sent among you (NIV).

The good news is that the God who sends us the good years, is also a God who knows how to redeem the bad ones.

In fact, if you read the whole passage here are some truths you will discover:

• First things first: Rend your heart and not your garments (vs 12-14). One of the biggest mistakes we make with Old Testament prophecy is to take the promises out of context and assume specific promises God made to a specific people apply to us.  Don’t make that mistake here.  If you queue up for locust reparations without hearing God’s call to stop going through the motions of religiosity and to humbly repent you may be disappointed.
• Fear not, for the bad years will not last forever (vs 21-24). The fact is, if you will persevere, things have a way of coming back around.  We serve a God who sends things in seasons.
• With God, there doesn’t have to be such a thing as wasted years (vs 25). The truth is that life is seasonal whether you have put your hope in Christ or not. God sends both sun and rain into the lives of the righteous and the unrighteous. So where’s the benefit to faith? While faith in God does not mean we will never have bad years, it does mean those years do not have to be wasted. The grace of Christ means our inevitable suffering can be united with his and become redemptive.
• God’s purpose through it all is to make himself known (vs 27). If we measure God’s faithfulness to his Word by how comfortable, how affluent or even how happy we are, we miss the mark.  Redeeming the years is not about making things up to us; it is all about making Him known.

I shared yesterday about our youth group’s favorite travel game, The Top Three.  On our ski trip this weekend, one of my favorite questions came as a surprise: What were your top three favorite years? Like most of the best questions in the top three game, it’s deceptively simple, but calls for some real thought and provides a unique insight into the lives of the players.  After some careful consideration, here are my top three as well as some reflections on what makes the good years so good.

1991

1991 was the best of my high school years, with 1990 a close second.  In October 1990 I finally got up the nerve to ask Michelle to go out with me.  By 1991 we were “going steady.”  The summer of 1991 was my turn to attend Nazarene Youth Congress in Orlando, FL. By the time my senior semester started (fall 1991) I’d found my social niche and loved school. I was on my high school speech team and made the all-conference team in foreign extemp.  In December of 1991 I graduated from high school a semester early and prepared to head off to Olivet Nazarene University in January 1992.

Update: And though I didn’t know it then, that was also the year @Bekkalynn was born.

1995

This was probably the best year of my life so far.  So many things went right. 1994-1995 was my senior year of college and the best year for ONU basketball during my college years.  One of my best friends at school was a starting guard for the Tigers and Michelle and I had a lot of fun following the basketball team around during their CCAC championship season.  I spent half a semester in Lansing, MI doing my internship with Lansing South Church of the Nazarene.  In May I graduated. In June Michelle and I got married and honeymooned at Disney World.  We moved into our first “old apartment” together.  Then in November of 1995 I accepted my first ministerial position as the youth pastor at the Decatur Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Decatur, IL.  We went from our first apartment, to our first house, a parsonage two doors down the street from the church.  When I remember “the good old days” the events of 1995 are the first things to come to mind.

2003

On the first Sunday of October 2002 I became the youth pastor at my current church, the Middletown Church of the Nazarene.  During my first few months I focused on building the infrastructure for our youth ministry.  It wasn’t until January 2003 that we launched Water’s Edge our weekly worship service for teens.  (Honestly, I’m not certain if this photo was taken in 2003 or 2004).  As a family, the move to Middletown in many ways meant coming home.  I loved the people in Decatur, and I loved the city of Decatur, but we are Indiana folk.  Middletown meant more time with extended family, a house in the country that we own, and the advantages of being half an hour from all that Indianapolis has to offer.  In 2003 all this that we love so much was new and exciting.

What Makes the Best Years the Best?

In part it’s about perspective. After I got home from our ski trip I asked my wife what her top three years were.  Interestingly 2003, which I counted among the best, was one of her worst.  The transition away from the friendships in Decatur were far harder than she ever dreamed.  And she said one of her best was 2010, a year I would count among one of my worst (more on that tomorrow.)  How could two people living together, sharing so much of life, have such a different take on things?  We were focused on different factors.  Find yourself living your dream? Make sure those who matter most to you are enjoying the ride too.  Wake up every day to a nightmare? Maybe it’s time to intentionally take inventory of your blessings.

In part it’s about adventure. I can’t help but notice that all three of my favorite years were times of transition. I don’t make major moves all that often.  Let’s face it, 15 years of ministry and only two churches speaks to my tendency to stay put until God leads elsewhere. But as reluctant as I am to make major transitions, the adventure of them is energizing.  Matt Bond called this phenomenon “Entrepreneurial Energy” in his recent guest post on MoreThanDodgeball. Coming at the issue from the perspective of the movie The Social Network he wrote:

There’s a level of energy and enthusiasm inherent in discovery, risk-taking, and the forming of great ideas that you can’t help but get excited about. This in itself was obvious and inspirational in the movie. We saw a group of students portrayed as unsatisfied with existing structures and yearning for more purpose, connection, and significance. This kind of energy and enthusiasm is vital to our work with students and our teams. If you or your team is struggling with being excited about your current plan, existing structures, or roles, it may be necessary to try something new, shake things up, take a risk. Even if you fail in the short term, it may point you in the right direction.

There is something very wise in those words.

In part it’s about relationships. So many of my good memories don’t revolve around the things I had, the stuff I did or the positions I held.  They were about the people involved. I chose the photos for each year not so much for where they were taken or what was happening, but who was in them.  That’s an important thing to keep in mind when you’re thinking through priorities and making choices.  In the end, it’s the people that matter most.

The whole is cause for gratitude. James said it best when he wrote, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17, NIV).”  By my calculation that includes all those good years we’ve enjoyed.  When was the last time you said thanks?

All I can say is I am still reveling in last night’s Packers victory, so I thought I’d take a minute to gloat here.  It feels awfully good, especially since things looked so shaky in the middle of the season.

Here’s photographic proof that @aaronscottallen has perhaps the coolest family in Middletown.  I walked out of the church Sunday morning to find this cupcake creation sitting in the front seat of my van with a nice note from a family of die-hard Colts fans who wished us a happy Super Bowl party. And it was happy.

Brett, my #2 son, is my only true Packers comrade in the family.  The rest are all Colts fans.  So it’s fun sharing the joy with him. I’m hoping he realizes how special this is.

(A bitter?) Pastor Phil tweeted last night:

I suppose @pastorbuhro actually thinks we enjoy his incessant packer tweets Phil Rogers

In honor of him, I’m posting them all here, because, honestly, I make myself laugh.  And that’s all that matters.

• As stupid as the idea for that Declaration of Independence reading sounded, there is power and wisdom in those words. #SB45
• On the commerative coin, the helmet is heads and the stadium is a monument to American materialism… #SB45
• What’s the difference between #Roethlisberger & #Cultler? After knee injury, Jay walks to the sidelines; Ben runs. #SB45
• Mark Dill should be on Twitter. Great comeback: “And 3 arrests for harassment/misconduct.” #Roethlisberger / #Cutler
• Me: Why would you be excited about a Thor movie? @cr92: Because it sounds so much more interesting than Thive. #DC>Marvel
• The only thing better than @aaronscottallen on Twitter? @DeniseBevel. I’m waiting for more Football carols…
• RT @ToddOwens: My wish for a good game is slowly deteriorating // And mine is apparently coming true…
• My mom just called me in the middle of the Super Bowl. First words? “Thought I should call while the Packers were still ahead.” #thanksmom
• Schaad: Think Slash is annoyed by that lady singing so close to him. Hannah: That’s no lady… #SB45
• How many people think the dancers demanded boxes AFTER sound checks yesterday? #SB45
• Here’s to hoping Mike McCarthy didn’t give his normal “Just quit trying for a while” halftime speech. #GoPackGo
• No Troy Aikman. The Packers will go to the ground game in an attempt to score. #SB45 (After Troy suggested the Pack would go to the ground game in an attempt to run off a little of the clock.)
• Me: How many teachers can afford a 2011 Camaro? @cr92 She’s probably also a drug dealer. #sb45
• #GoPackGo Wow… (That’s me, almost speechless when the Steelers failed their 4th down conversion in the final minute.)
• In the end, the Pack won #SB45 the same way they played the season. Early injuries, mediocre in the middle, and finished strong. #GoPackGo
• And despite the hype, it was the defense that made the difference. #SB45 #GoPackGo
• How many Black Eyed Peas did they have to skin to make that trophy platform? #SB45
• I remember when @BigChap told me: “The AFC have a cake walk to a Championship. 6th seed. LOL.” All I can say is #GoPackGo
• RT @BigChap @pastorbuhro I deserve that. All of that. http://yfrog.com/gzb6nknj // That proves it. You ARE a great man. ;-)
• Real men of dignity: #1) @BigChap #2) Mike Tomlin; Loads of respect for both of them.
• RT @NFL Brandt: Packers are NFC’s first No. 6 seed to win the Super Bowl… and they did it with 15 guys on the IR.
• And for those who like to count trophies, that is 13 NFL championships for Green Bay. There’s a reason they call it Titletown. #GoPackGo (And to those who whine that they got a bit of a head start, they’ve won 10 since the Steelers joined the NFL.)

By the way, I hope you did enjoy my incessant tweeting.  Between Facebook and Twitter, it was like I was watching the game with all of my friends (except @THEnealpeterson) who sadly still lacks a Twitter account.

After a season of rooting #GoPackGo, the only thing I can say now is #EnjoyPackEnjoy, because you’ve got to go back to work soon.  We’ve got some guys on the IR who deserve a return trip.

Now, back to ministry…

Sunday afternoon the Green Bay Packers strode confidently into the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.  It wouldn’t be long however before they looked less certain.  Early turnovers resulted in an early lead for the Vikings.  Things began to look up when the Pack forced a turnover and ran it back for a score to make up the deficit.  But the victory just wasn’t to be.  They made a good run at a comeback late in the fourth quarter, but in the end fell short.

A key factor in the loss was the Vikings pass rush which hounded the Packers quarterback, created havoc in the backfield and led to some costly turnovers.  The other key difference was time of possession, which Minnesota dominated, especially in the second half.

It proved a tough loss.  But it wasn’t the end of the season.  Favre and the Packers went on to lose only two more games, and gave Minnesota a 38-10 drubbing in week 17 when the Vikings had to report to Lambeau Field for the rematch.  It was an exciting end to the regular season and a good transition into the post-season which Green Bay capped off by defeating Drew Bledsoe and the Patriots in Superbowl XXXI.  But they did lose to the Vikings in Minnesota on Sept. 22, 1996.

Given the lessons learned from history, despite last night’s lost, Packer Nation isn’t worried.  The deciding factor isn’t what happened last night.  It’s what happens the rest of the season.

Christ Bearing the Cross, from the Workshop of El Greco and part of the IMA's Clowes collection.

Granted, this is a bit of a diversion from my normal subject matter for this blog, but I’m too excited about this not to share.

One of my favorite things about living in Middletown is the combined joys of living in a small town (population 2,500), the convenience of being 10 minutes from the retail and restaurant options of Anderson, and the culture of being 45 minutes from Indianapolis.  And one of my favorite things about being close to Indy is the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Simply put, I love the IMA

It’s free.  (That doesn’t keep me from paying for an annual membership though – it’s a museum worthy of support.)

It really is a world class institution.  They have a very eclectic collection from Chinese Jade, to the Eitlejorg African/Egyptian collection, to old masters, to modern design.  They have one of the best collections of Neo-Impressionism in the Western Hemisphere, and their collection of works from the Pont-Aven School (including Paul Gauguin) is perhaps the best in the world.  I can’t summarize their collection without mentioning their extensive collection of works from J.M.W. Turner in their Pantzer collection.  And, for me, the icing on the cake: their Clowes collection features five works from the workshop of El Greco – my favorite artist of all time.

And it’s 45 minutes away!

As if that wasn’t enough, we’re one week away from the opening of the special exhibition I’ve been waiting for… Sacred Spain.  Featuring works from some of my favorite artists (including El Greco), this exhibit showcases devotional art from Spain and the Spanish speaking world.  At the heart of the exhibit is the Crown of the Andes, a 17th century emerald crown commissioned for the statue of the virgin Mary in Columbia.

What’s more, the IMA has one of the best technology departments of any art museum I’ve ever visited.  They are pioneering the way in using technology and social media to promote arts education.  I’m especially looking forward to the unveiling of their new TAP technology which uses an iPod Touch application to provide an in depth experience for this exhibit.  Developed by IMA staff, this will be a revolutionary way to take in an exhibition.

It’s going to be awesome and I can’t wait.

Member’s preview day is Saturday, October 10th.  The exhibition opens to the public on Sunday, October 11th.  Admission is free.  Check it out!

And while you’re at it, you can connect with the IMA through their blog, or their incredible art video site artbabble.org.

Anyone who’s on Facebook has probably seen the 25 things meme that’s been spreading like wildfire over there.  I myself was recently tagged, as was friend and fellow blogger Todd.  Not to be outdone, I succomed.  Here are my 25 things, reposted for your enjoyment.

Photo courtesy of annamon on flickr

1) I find this incredibly difficult, given the fact that there are no indications about the information you desire, simply a number of facts requested. Where do I start? What do I include? See, told you it was tough.

2) Start at the beginning. I come, on my mother’s side, from a long line of educators. My maternal grandparents, my mother, all her siblings, and a good number of their spouses, have all been teachers at some point or another. So is my only brother.

3) I come, on my father’s side, from a long line of Buhro’s. My father, my father’s father, my grandfather’s father, and my great-grandfather’s father all had the surname “Buhro.” I suspect that pattern extends even farther back. However we’ve been unable to confirm that given the fact that my great-great-grandfather emigrated from Magdeberg, Germany and during World War II all records there pertaining to my family appear to have been destroyed.

4) I am an oldest child. I have a younger brother. I do not, however, have a smaller brother. I was a small child, my brother was not. I think it was in third grade I started getting “hand-me-ups” from him. I am, though, quickly catching up to him now that I’ve reached middle age – a fact that I’d like to change.

5) I love food. I love to eat good food. I love especially to cook good food. My father is a bit of a gourmand a trait both my brother and I have inherited. That makes changing the previous fact difficult.

6) I am an avid reader. In elementary school, I actually got in trouble for reading too much. (I’d sneak books into class and hide them in my desk so I could read while the teacher was talking.) I still do. (It’s so much more enjoyable to read than to do the dishes or mow the yard. Audible.com is helping with that.)

7) I am a minister. I first sensed that God was leading me into the ministry when I was about 7 years old. (I distinctly remember when it happened, it’s just been so long ago I don’t remember precisely how old I was. If anyone knows when the Kendallville Church of the Nazarene met in the town’s Recreation Center because they were remodeling the Williams’ Street sanctuary, it was then. I just don’t recall what year that was.) I can’t really remember when I didn’t know I’d grow up to be a pastor.

8) I am a husband. I married my wife, Michelle, in June of 1995, the summer I graduated from college and the summer before her college graduation. We met, however, when we were both in elementary school. Different schools, different towns, but the same “district.” We went to churches of the same denomination in the same area and we met at a children’s Bible Quiz meet. It was _not_ love at first sight. I remembered her as “that one red head who was pretty good” and she remembered me as “that one boy that always beats me.” (I do tend to sense some bitterness there.)

9) We started dating when we were both Juniors in high school. We did attend the same high school, and by that time her family had begun attending our church. We dated for five years before we got married.

10) I proposed to my wife in a cemetery outside Portage, OH. It was the same cemetery in which my grandfather (the maternal one, not the Buhro) proposed to my grandmother. That’s why, not because I’m creepy like that.

11) Cool story though: I had taken her to the now defunct “Sea World Ohio” for the day. One of the things you could do there was buy a cup, and a pearl diver would dive down and select an oyster for your cup. You then take the oyster to be shucked, and any pearl inside you get to keep as a souvenir. Our oyster had two pearls in it. I had one custom set into a diamond necklace and gave it to my wife on our honeymoon, because I am romantic like that.

12) I am a father. I have five children. Four boys, one girl. The boys all have the same initials as I – Brenden Riley, Brett Reid, Bryce Ray, Brock Rhys. The girl has the same initials as Michelle – Mackenzie Ashe.

13) My children were all so named for reasons other than simply because we liked the name. Brenden, Brett and Bryce were all named after hockey players (Shanahan, Hull and Salvador, respectively.) Brock’s middle name comes from my favorite actor in my favorite movies, John Rhys-Davies, and Mackenzie is named, in part, for my second favorite female detective, Kinsey Millhone. (Sally Kimball didn’t start with a “M”).

14) I don’t think Michelle has any idea why I suggested the name Mackenzie.

16) One of my greatest regrets is that I never succeeded in talking my wife into naming one of our sons Benoit.

17) I am not only a father, I delivered one of my sons. No kidding. Brett was born at home, in the bathroom. And no, we didn’t plan for a home delivery. My wife wasn’t convinced it was labor. And she’s an RN who has spent her career working in OB. Brett was born so fast I didn’t even have time to call 911 until after he was born.

18) I am a nerd. Always have been a little socially awkward, and fascinated by factual minutiae. My speech coach in high school nicknamed me Alex because I tended to wear suits and ties, and always carried a briefcase. Yeah, I am nerdy like that.

19) I am a geek. I’ve always been fascinated by computers, from our old Apple IIe that I used to write text based RPG’s for as a child, to college, where I was one of the first people to carry a laptop, all the way to the present where I’m not only youth pastor but “tech guy” for my church. I have not, however, had any classes of any kind in computing. It’s all self taught.

20) My goal one day is to retire and buy a home on Neebish Island, MI, in the St Marys river just downstream from Sault Ste Marie. When my aforementioned great-great-grandfather came to America they settled in the Sault. I still feel at home when I return there. It’s one of my favorite places in the world, and one of my favorite things to do is watching the ore boats go up and down the river. I love the winter. I love the cold. I want to retire to Neebish Island.

21) That said, I went to Florida for the first time since childhood this last fall. Stayed on the Gulf coast. Fell in love with it. Still dream about sleeping to the sound of the waves on the beach and the birds in the air. I hate crowds, so I’d hate to live there. But I’m sadly desperate to vacation there again in the off season.

22) Umm, I’m running out of things to say. Does that count as a random fact?

23) In high school I made money as a professional clown — parties, parades, balloon animals, magic tricks and the like.

24) In college I worked as a traveling vacuum cleaner salesman. Of course back then we weren’t supposed to call them vacuums. They were air filtration units with convenient cleaning attachments. Seriously. I sold Filter Queens in the Chicago suburbs. I quit because I couldn’t handle the guilt from selling people something they couldn’t afford.

25) I tend to take shortcuts when I think no one will notice.

Wow . . .

It’s hard to believe 2008 is over and 2009 has begun.

But here I am at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Coldwater Blvd in Fort Wayne writing my first blog post of the new year.  (By the way, as Dunkin’ Dounuts go, this one is swank.  Plus free wi-fi.  A great place for some blogging on the run.)

I find myself marveling this morning.  I’ve been out in public on the major “days after” this year.  The morning after Thanksgiving was a madhouse.  The morning after Christmas, likewise.  Maybe even worse.  But the morning after New Year’s Eve might as well be the morning after the Apocalypse.  It’s like I have the whole world to myself.  Well, me and the hosts of Fox & Friends on Dunkin’s big screen.  Apparently they didn’t make the rapture either.

This New Year’s morning, I’m thinking about resolutions.  I’ve never been much of a New Year’s resolutions kind of guy.  In fact, I can’t remember ever making any in the first 34 years of my life.  But this year I’ve spent a good amount of my Christmas break re-thinking my life and ministry, evaluating what is and trying to envision what can be.  And so it is that I’m ready to do some goal setting for 2009.

So, without further ado, here they are . . .

1. In 2009, I’m going to quit smoking…

…unless, of course, doing so would require me to start.  I figure if you’re going to make a New Year’s resolutions, you might as well make at least one that’s easy to keep.  Maybe it comes from years watching my mother pledge to give up watermelon for Lent (back then you couldn’t buy watermelon in Indiana in April if you tried), but it seems like having at least one easy one sets me up for success.  And it helps keep things in perspective.  Yes, there are some unhealthy, inefficient patterns to my life that could use improving, but I do have some things going for me.

2. In 2009, I will climb back into quadrant 2.

Were I to characterize my 2008, I’d probably have to call it my year of laziness.  It was in part a rebellion against 2007 – my year of overwork.  But while it was a reaction to an unhealthy way of life, it was less than healthy itself.  Productivity and efficiency habits I’d worked to develop in 07 fell by the wayside.  My life was ordered more by deadlines than by goals.  And I found myself the slave of quadrants 1 and 3 in Covey’s paradigm.  It’s time to get some of that organization back and to focus on important tasks – both professional and personal – before they become urgent to insure I can give them the attention they deserve.

Of course, that goal probably isn’t as specific, attainable, measurable and time sensitive as my friend Todd would like.  But that’s what the next few resolutions are for — breaking down this one and strategizing it’s attainment.

3. In 2009, I will become a morning person again.

It’s not really that I’m not a morning person now, it’s just that I’ve stopped living like one.  I am a morning person.  I get  more done first thing in the morning.  My focus is better, my thoughts are clearer, and getting a good start in the morning helps me feel better about the whole day, making the afternoon run better too.  Add to that the fact that adding hours in the morning is the best way for me to add work without my family missing me and you have a powerful incentive for an early start.

Conversely, a slow start to the day normally ruins it for me.  I get migraines if I sleep too long or if I skip breakfast.  The later the starter’s pistol sounds, the harder time I have getting off the line.  And that leaves me feeling like I’ve wasted the day before I’ve even begun – a perfect recipe for lethargy.  What’s more, starting later doesn’t mean I can run longer.  It doesn’t matter how late I sleep in the morning, I’m not good for much of anything after 10:00 in the evening, so I can’t just shift everything later.

Yet despite all this, in 2008 I got into the habit of rolling over and going back to sleep when my body woke me up in the morning.  Or, as was more often the case, going back to bed after I got the kids bundled up and herded out to the school bus in the morning.  I think it was caused by some depressive tendencies this last year.  I know it resulted in some depressive tendencies this last year.  So in 2009, that will change.

4. In 2009, I will keep my desktop cleaner.

And I’m not talking about the thing in my office.  I do tolerably well at keeping that in a tidy disorder.  I need stuff spread out so I can get work done – it’s how I think, and the desk in my office works for me.  (The rest of the office could use a little tidying right now, but that’s a different resolution.)

No, I’m talking about my virtual desktop.  I have a bad habit of saving every active project to my desktop so I can find it.  The problem is I never file it away when I’m done with it.  In fact, it got so bad towards the end of the year I was running out of real estate on my virtual desktop.  However, I realize that given the amount of time I spend in front of this computer, my desktop can become a powerful organizational tool I can leverage into increased effectiveness, assuming of course I can see my desktop.  Hence the resolution.

Last night I trimmed it down to only five shortcuts.  I could have removed most of those too, but I intentionally left those five behind because having them on the desktop actually makes me more efficient by reminding me of quadrant 2 tasks.  Now I’ve got to keep it clean.

5. In 2009, I will again spend time each week in weekly planning.

This used to be a strength.  I’d start each week with a clear idea of what was important and a pretty clear strategy for getting it done.  But in 2008 that practice fell by the wayside, mainly because I’d sleep through the time slot devoted to weekly planning.  That too will change this year.

6. In 2009, I will spend time every week praying for each of my teens by name.

I do pray for my teens.  But right now it’s normally a quadrant 1 task.  I pray for them based on the crises they are facing.  If they’re struggling, I’ll remember to pray for them.  This year I’ll be more intentional to pray for each one every week “whether they need it or not.” (I know they need it, but I’m resolving to recognize that fact, even if they’re not in a crisis.)

7. In 2009, I will have my sermons written by Monday evening.

I normally spend Tuesdays finalizing sermon preparations and getting everything ready for our Tuesday night youth services.  However, that tends to leave me too busy to really focus on teens when they start arriving on Tuesday nights.  Sometimes I’m downright rushed to get everything in place before the start time rolls around.  In 2009, Monday will be the new Tuesday.  I’ll rush on Monday so that Tuesday I can spend more time focused on what really matters – people.

8. In 2009, I will have our Tuesday night services fully staffed.

Right now we’re running on a skeleton crew on Tuesday nights.  Life changes in our volunteers has meant that many of them have had to step away from youth ministry, at least on a weekly basis.  The problem is I haven’t focused enough on recruiting to replace them.  That means that I’m busier when teens start arriving (see also #7) and we’re doing less than our best on our biggest night of the week.  That will change in 2009.

9. In 2009, Sunday will be a Sabbath.

This has been a change I’ve already started working on, ever since our recent series on the Ten Commandments.  Sundays have become a day on which I prove my worth to my church by being a good pastor and producing quality religious “product”, whether it’s producing smoothly running technical performances or creating slick promotional graphics or whatever else I’m putting on display that Sunday.  As a result, Sunday is all work and no rest.  And the work isn’t for God, it’s for my own sense of worth.  I’ve committed myself to changing that and finding a way to be a pastor who honors the Sabbath.  (Which, incidentally, is a wholly different thing than making sure I take a day off every week.  Sabbath is not about taking a day off, it’s about honoring God by resting in our identity in Him.  A day off is about making sure I honor my commitments at home.)

10. By the end of 2009, I will have simplified my way of life enough to be putting into savings an additional 1/6 of my income.

This too is something God’s been working in me ever since studying the Sabbath.  Sabbath isn’t only a day – it’s a year.  The Church of the Nazarene is good about promoting the importance of taking a sabbatical every seven years in ministry.  And that has me thinking. Given the fact that I’m in my 14th year of ministry and my 7th year at this church, it’s getting to be sabbatical time.

The problem is I can’t afford to take a Biblical sabbath year.  Our budget can’t afford to let the fields lay fallow this year and give my salary to charity – despite the fact that deep inside God is forming in me a sense that I really should.  So, while I might not be able to really observe a Sabbath year in year 14 of my ministry, I’m resolving now that I will be ready to do so in year 21.  And I will do so, not by being less than faithful in my preparations for my dotage or by pillaging my family’s savings, but by simplifying our lifestyle enough to make room in the budget for Sabbath preparations – something I think was part of God’s purpose for the practice in the first place.

11. In 2009, I’m going to lose weight I will eat less and exercise more.

Had to redact that one a little bit based on what I learned about the effects that my weight-loss attempts can have on my kids.  I do need to lose some weight.  My diet needs to change, as does my activity level.  But the focus will be on developing a healthy lifestyle, not just on losing weight (though hopefully that will be a by-product).

You’ll probably notice these are primarily professional and spiritual.  There aren’t many family based resolutions here.  That’s not because there is no room for improvement in that area.  It’s because I figure my wife and kids should have some say in those goals.

Well, it’s getting on to 9:30 now.  The world is beginning to stir to life around me.  Maybe the rapture hasn’t really happened yet.  I’d probably better get back to my inlaws before the family realizes I’m missing.

Happy New Year!  I’m praying 2009 will be your best yet.