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New Every Morning

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and the focus on the minds of most people is increasingly how to make next year a better year than this year. My wife and I have already had several conversations about this very topic as 2015 draws near.

Mountain Sunrise

With the dawn of a new year, it seems like an appropriate time to make a fresh start, a new beginning. The beginning of a new year is the logical time to do this. I seek to reevaluate myself and the passing year every December, identifying goals and strategies that I want to have in place for the coming months.

Each year in December, I take a deep an hard look at my Life Plan. I examine my successes. I identify my weaknesses. I see what needs to change, what needs to be prioritized, or re-prioritized, and chart out my course for the coming year.

My wife and I look at the new year for our family. What can we do together to make our family stronger? What can we eliminate from our lives to make our family less busy and stressed, and strengthen ourselves?

Countdown To Zero Day

Countdown To Zero Day by Kim Zetter (New York: Crown Publishers, 2014)

I am a big Tom Clancy fan. His Jack Ryan novels are some of my all-time favorites. The suspense of almost eerily real fiction captivates me and I can’t put the books down.

This week, I started reading Countdown To Zero Day, a very real account of the world’s first digital weapon, and the means used to deliver it. Tom Clancy’s fiction has proven to be almost prophetic. The world is facing a brand new way of waging war, and we are more vulnerable than we realize.

I’m only a couple of chapters in at this point, but I am intrigued. Watch for my full review when I finish in a few days. In the meantime, you can purchase a copy on Amazon.

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Coffee Break – 12.08.2014

Christmas is almost upon us, and with that in mind, several of this week’s links are gift-giving guides or otherwise related to the season.  Merry Christmas!

Coffee Break!

Coffee Lover’s Gift Giving Guides – Coffee Geek has several guides for Christmas this year. There are three different links available at this point, and the possibility of more may be in store from Coffee Geek. Right now, the categories are Gifts Under $35, Gifts Under $75, and Gifts Under $500. Any of these items from any of these lists would be welcomed this year in my home.

199 Holiday Gift Ideas For Men – In my role as a minister, I feel that I should look as sharp as possible. Plus, I like to dress well. Here are 199 more ideas for my Christmas wish list, and you may find something that would work well for your husband, father, or friends as well. There are some great ideas on this list.

27 Things You Might Not Know About Christmas Vacation – One of my favorite holiday movies is Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. This is by far the funniest movie I watch with my family each year. Here are several intriguing facts about the movie that you may not have known about this holiday classic. If you are interested in watching it, you can pick up a copy from Amazon.

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Memorize Scripture: Titus 2:9-10

In what seems to be an odd shift to modern readers, Paul moves from instructions for the genders and moves on to slaves. And even though such slavery isn’t culturally applicable to our lives any longer, the principles are still very applicable.

See what Paul has to say in Titus 2:9-10:

Titus 2:9-10

Paul’s instructions concerning a slave’s attitude is definitely difficult to comprehend today. Even though there are still portions of the world where slavery is very much in practice, we don’t see it much in western civilization. Titus is told to address slaves and teach them how to act.

This may be in response to the slaves’ response to their freedom in Christ. Once they experienced that freedom, these Cretan slaves may have been rebellious towards their masters. Paul gives several instructions to Titus to pass on to the slaves in the community.

Paul gives five different commands concerning slaves in this passage.

Be subject to their masters

This is to be a voluntary decision on the part of the slave. This is to be a behavior prompted by the change in lifestyle as a result of being a Christian, and is to be a very submissive action. For us today, the principle applies: we are called to serve, no matter what our station in life. As believers, we should be willing to obey those in authority over us.

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Top Posts For November 2014

All is calm and bright on the home front this Christmas season! The house is decorated, the kids are building expectations, and the Advent Season is in full swing!

November 2014 Word Picture from Wordle.net

Although the fall has been pretty crazy, there is much to be thankful for. My wife broke her ankle, but has graduated from a cast and a wheeled walker to a walking boot. My family gave me a boxer for my birthday, something I’ve wanted for a very long time. And the new life my wife carries is growing and progressing very nicely.

Although the fall has been pretty busy, there is much to look forward to. Our church is in the midst of a search for a new youth minister. We are in the middle of a preaching series that will lead us right up to the birth of Christ. And we are set to focus on prayer and fasting with the start of the New Year.

And although the fall has been hectic, it is very apparent that God is still in control, and even though I may not see the purposes behind many of these events, or their timing, I know that he does.

With all of these events in play, my blogging schedule, and even my work schedule, has been disrupted. But that’s ok. Moving into December, I hope to regain some sense of routine in my work.

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Coffee Break – 12.01.2014

Coffee Break Banner

Which Profession Drinks The Most Coffee? – I found this infographic very interesting. And I’m confused where I fit it. Ministers aren’t listed, but writers are. I drink a lot of coffee, but I drink it black. So I don’t really fit in well in any of these categories. Regardless, it is very interesting.

If These Walls Could Talk – Very often, things we own gain a very sentimental value. Lysa TerKeurst has found a way to both remember and honor those values and the events in our lives they represent. This is very creative.

Beautiful Scotland – One of the places I would love to visit is Scotland. We have some friends who live there, and it would be incredible to visit them and their mission work one day. The countryside is beautiful, and this video gives some stunning views of the island.