New Personal Trends for '09

I've already noticed several things going in a new direction for me this New Year.

1. Nothing wrong with enjoying life. I've begun to listen to country music more in '09. There have always been some aspects of country music that I liked and those that were distasteful to me. I don't care for the "honky tonk" twang or the lyrics that uplift beer guzzling and the date-of-the-month mentality. But I do like the sincerity and authenticity of a lot of country music. The ballads are especially mesmerizing sometimes and I enjoy the fun-loving songs too.

Having grown up listening to bluegrass I especially love gifted instrumentation, be it acoustic guitar-picking, fiddle, mandolin, or banjo...and yes, a dobro once in while.

It's just that I've noticed that while I'm in my pickup surfing the radio I linger longer on the country stations than I did before.

2. Stay on solid footing. I have to be sure that my right knee joint connects - especially going up or down stairs. I was going out the back door the other night to get some firewood for the fireplace and suddenly found myself on the patio when I thought I was going to be on the second step down. Hey, I'm over 50.

3. Don't get ahead of God. After crossing the threshold of a New Year I've noticed that God is bigger and I'm calmer. I have always had a BIG, BIG image of God. But I haven't always remembered to apply it every waking moment. One of my worst mistakes being a Christ follower has been to get ahead of God. What happens when you get ahead of someone? You're not together. Man, not walking together with God is a waste of life.

4. It's okay to be me. I've read a lot of articles about how teaching and preaching to the emergent church and the current postmodern culture needs to be more pictures and less structure. Okay, okay, I get it. But I don't give or get as much from pictures as I do structured and sequenced presentations. I will try now and again to teach and preach with more visual and storytelling emphases, but I was made for organizing my thoughts and words in sequence.

I hope you have a great 2009 being the best you that God created you to be!