the journey begins...

I cannot remember a time in the past where I have seriously made a New Year's resolution. I have never been a strong advocate of resolutions. I do not smoke; I do not drink (too much); I am not overweight; I read the Bible regularly and I pray with semi-regularity. I am plagued with sin but must I make an annual resolution to stop? We all know the reality is that I will not stop until Jesus takes me to my final resting place. So, I have never really known what resolution to make...

But this year is different... I have made a New Year's resolution! We should probably call it a goal more than a New Year's resolution but it's all semantics. One of my Christmas gifts this year was a book, "Besides the Bible: 100 Books That Have, Should, or Will Create Christian Culture" by Dan Gibson, Jordan Green and John Pattison. (find it here: http://burnsidewriters.com). Having made it only about 20% of the way through the book, I can still honestly say that it is a gem and has spurred me to my New Year's Resolution.

I resolve to begin the journey of reading the '100 books' identified in this read. Furthermore I resolve to blog about my journey along the way. This should not be a 2011 resolution but rather a life-long resolution or as I like to call it, a life-long journey. But it is one which I think will be well worth it in the end. Following is how I will map out this journey:

1. I resolve to blog no less than 2 times per month. For many this may seem like child's play. One of the bloggers I follow averages about 10-12 per month. But for myself, I need to be realistic. Between being a husband, father of 4, Director of Student Ministries, and Master's Degree Student, I think 2 per month is a great starting point.

2. I resolve to have no certain time table. Some of the books are short reads, some may take me a year or more just themselves. The end of the journey will not be the only reward... the journey itself will be the reward.

3. I resolve to read one at a time from each time period. This is so I do not get bogged down in the first 1500 years of the 'church' but will have some more current reads interspersed as well.

I truly hope some will follow along with my journey. Some may even want to take the journey with me. I have absolutely no expectations, except that God would, through it all, reveal more of Himself to me, more of myself to me and more of His world to me.

And so it begins...

Grace and peace...