Print out your Reading Plan

In the past I’ve talked about Bible Reading Plans. These are really helpful ways to read through the Bible through the year. There are all sorts of plans that give you all sorts of options. But the most important part is that you are reading the Bible.

The generous people at Crossway have made many different reading plans available for free on their website (http://www.esv.org/). My personal favorite is the M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan. It guides you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms/Proverbs twice in one year. It also helps balance difficult sections to go through (such as the laws in Leviticus) with other sections that aren’t so difficult to keep up with.

There are many ways to go through these plans. You can get them as a RSS feed, emailed to you daily, read it online, or even download it to your calendar. I’ve tried all of these solutions and they work fairly well. However, the most effective way I’ve found to go through a reading plan is to simply print out the plan. The Print option gives you a single page (double-sided) that has the entire year’s plan on it. I’ve printed this plan out and have it in a Bible at the office as well as in a Bible at home.

I’ve found this method to be the most beneficial because I don’t have to open up my computer or phone to get the passages I am going to read that day. When I do turn to my phone or computer, there are dozens of other things begging for my attention that easily distract me. And if they don’t pull my attention away from reading the Bible right away, they sit in the back of my mind and nag me to finish reading quickly so I can move on to do the things that need to be done today.

By having just my Bible and a single sheet that lets me know where to read today, I find that I am able to really concentrate on my reading and really interact with the scripture.

What are some other ways that help you read through the Bible?

Theoretical turned Actual

Last week at 3 AM in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), I found myself praying that God would be Glorified in the life of my newborn son, however short it may be.

It was odd that I was praying for God’s glory more than Jonathan’s healing. But it showed me how God has worked in my life. Isn’t not my greatest desire that I would be able to have a healthy son who will grow up to love Jesus. I do desire that, more than I desire to eat or sleep. But it was my greatest desire that Jesus would be glorified in Jonathan’s life.

Last January we had a miscarriage. It was incredibly hard. We mourned for a long time. And when I talk about it today, I get a lump in my throat and sometimes my eyes start to feel watery. But I know that God was glorified in the short life of that tiny, unborn baby. I can only hope for the same with Jonathan, that God would be glorified in his life.

It’s not that losing a child, born or unborn, is easy. It’s not that it doesn’t hurt or that you don’t cry and mourn the loss of that life. And it’s not that you aren’t supposed to love your children. Of course you are. Those things are still hard. You are still supposed to mourn. You are still supposed to hurt. That is why you hurt when they are hurt and well up with joy when you just look at them. But that love for your child should be overshadowed by your love for Jesus.

Today we’re still mourning the loss of our unborn and celebrating the life of our first born.

But the mourning and hurting is temporary. This life is temporary. And while we’re here, our main goal should be to Glorify our creator, the God of the universe, who loved us so much that he sent his son to save us from our sinful selves, to reconcile us to Himself. We don’t come to Jesus for a “better way” or for “wisdom” or even to be forgiven from our sin. We come to Jesus to glorify his name, to praise our creator, and to worship the one and only God who has blessed us with the life of his Son, while we’re still sinners who don’t deserve it. We glorify His name because He is the only one worthy of receiving glory.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

An Update on Jonathan

Today we moved into a room where Jonathan can stay with us. Praise God!

Though we’re not home yet, it’s a huge improvement. The room is a little larger than our closet, but with all three of us in there at the same time, it’s just right.

Jonathan gets to come out of the NICU and stay with us in this room. He still has to go back to the NICU nurses for his antibiotics, tests, and regular vitals. But other than that, he gets to stay with us, in our room! (like naps being wasted on the young, babysitting is wasted on us, the new parents)

With Jonathan in our own room, I was able to video chat with some family in Florida and spend the day relaxed with Jonathan napping on my chest.

Tonight, around 4 AM, they will run another batch of tests on Jonathan. If his CRP isn’t at 5 or below, we’ll be staying another night. If it is at 5 or below, we’ll talk with the doctor on duty about circumcision and see how quickly we can get home.

One last phenomenon to mention. Before Jonathan I had never changed a diaper. It’s not like I was avoiding the experience. I never really get offers to change diapers and I have never been in the situation where the child needed a diaper change and their parent wasn’t there to change it. So yesterday was my first diaper change. Since then, I’ve changed a few. I don’t get the hysteria that surrounds changing a diaper. It’s not like it’s hard or disgusting.

From what I’m told… that will change once he starts on baby food.

Here’s how to pray for us:

• Pray that God would be glorified in Jonathan’s life.
• Pray that he would grow up to be a man who honors God with his life.
• Pray that his CRP falls from 11 to 5 tonight, before the tests and we would be able to come home quickly.
• Pray for Stephanie, that she can get some sleep on the pullout chair/bed we’re sleeping in tonight.

Lastly, here’s a picture from today. It’s still in the NICU, but we had so much fun sitting together. We talked about the Bible, Jesus, friendships, relationships, how much I love Stephanie, politics, foreign oil, how the internet works, and life in general. He’s a great listener.

I’ve also included a video. Sorry for the 3 minutes of his face and little movement, but that’s what happens with 2-day-old babies…

Asking the right questions

This past Sunday our church started a new series on God & Money. Dustin Neeley, the lead pastor, preached a sermon titled “Basic Instructions” that you can watch here.

This may be of interest to you because I make a cameo in the end.

The importance of a good Feed Reader

Trying to keep up with a bunch of blogs and website can be a real hassle. Especially if there are important ones you really want to read (like family blogs) and can’t always remember the website. That’s where a Feed Reader comes in handy.

I use Google Reader because it’s just that good. It’s free and has a great web interface. I’ve also got an iPhone app that syncs with it (for free) so I can get my latest news on the go.

Here are a few tips for how to use a Feed Reader effectively:

• Only subscribe to blogs and feeds you really want to read often. News feeds tend to send LOTS of articles every day and become quickly overwhelming.
• Organize your feeds based on blogs, family, corporations and other news. This makes it easier to remember who you’re reading so you know when to skip through headlines (corporations) and when to slow down (family).
• Check your feed reader, not their website. Checking the website gives them handy stats and lets them see who is coming. However, this can be overwhelming for the number of websites you have to check.
• Get to know Keyboard Shortcuts. These really help with flying through the feeds.
• Don’t keep everything just because it’s unread. If it was from a month ago, you probably don’t care that much. Keeping up with your reader could be a lot of work. Make it easier by only paying attention to what you REALLY want to know, such as the latest news. If it’s someone personal blog you really want to read up on, go through just that feed.
• Don’t be afraid to unsubscribe. I made this mistake early on. I was subscribing to BBC, CNN and the New York Times news feeds. I had hundreds of unread articles. I couldn’t keep up. I didn’t want to remove them from my list because every 1 in 1,000 posts were interesting to me. The time it took to scan the 1,000 posts was not worth the benefit of finding the one good feed.

If you want more tips on how to use social media and free computer tricks like a Feed Reader, check out my friend Aaron Marshall’s blog. He’s created two companies (TechSMO and ChurchSMO) that exist to teach people how to use technology effectively. He’s REALLY good.

Breakfast with Great Men

This morning I’m having breakfast with two great men; Mark Coleman and Craig Shuff. They’re on staff at my parent’s church in Davie, Florida. Mark is the pastor and Craig is the administrator.

At yesterday’s Baptist 21 panel discussion, we had a chance to catch up and talk for a few minutes before returning to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). I really enjoyed our abbreviated conversation about the younger generation pulling out of the SBC and disengaging from the conversation as a whole.

There is so much to talk about and so much wisdom to learn from Pastors who are not constantly involved in the bureaucratic discussions that surround the convention. Mark, after working for Florida Power and Light, got his seminary degree and planted New Life Baptist Church in 1993. He has 15 years of experience with his church that I can learn from. They’re connected to real people doing real ministry in South Florida, where life is much more hectic and the pace is much faster than what we’re doing in Kentucky.

I barely know Craig but I am looking forward to knowing him more. He handles all of the administration at New Life and is a SBTS grad.

And as if this couldn’t be a better breakfast, we’re meeting at Blue Dog Cafe, one of my favorite Louisville places to eat. I hope to post a few pictures after we get to meet.

I anticipate we’ll talk more about our churches getting involved in the Cooperative Program (CP), how to educate the younger generations in enacting change in the SBC, and how to thank our churches for the good work they have partnered in by giving to the CP.

More than anything, I anticipate this being a beautiful meeting of two different style churches that want to partner to see the gospel advanced and Jesus given the glory. I don’t imagine we’ll ever serve together at the same local church, but we get to partner in bringing the Gospel to the world. That’s pretty awesome.

It’s been a while.

Wow… I haven’t posted anything since June started. Sorry about that. I guess I didn’t realize how busy I was getting.

So, to give you an update… here’s what I am doing right now.

Studying

And here’s what I would rather be doing.

Cutting the Grass

Cutting the grass is relaxing and you can see immediate results. We’ve had a lot of rain recently and I haven’t been able to cut the grass because I’ve been really busy. It needs it, but the tyranny of the urgent keeps me here, at my desk.

Wish me luck on the final tomorrow. I’m being tested on material I’ve learned since Wednesday afternoon in 12 hours of lecture we’ve had.

Though this class is tough, I’m really happy I am taking it.

Do What You Love To Do

I’ve learned recently that I have to spend time wisely. Part of this is learning what I am good at, what I can do, and what I can’t do. There are certain things that would be fun to do but would be a waste of my time because I am not tallented or gifted in those areas. For example, I should not attempt to pursue these careers:

• Jockey
• Track Athlete
• Professional Baseball Player
• Astronaut

There are other professions that take skill and practice as well as some natural gifting. Because I don’t enjoy these things and I am not passionate about them, I should pursue these careers either:

• Professional Artist
• Snake Handler
• Gator Wrangler
• Bass Fisherman

However, I do need to acknowledge my skills and focus my time there.

That’s how I decided I wanted to be a church administrator. I grew up with a very specialized training from a mom who put color coded threads in the toe of my socks to tell them apart form my siblings. She had masking tape labels on everything. All of the towels were folded the same way. My dad also has a folder on his computer for everything! There isn’t a single file on his computer that you can get to without going through at least 43 folders that narrow down the content of that file. For example, things that are purely recreational, like family photos, are in a folder tree that looks like this: C->Recreation->Creativity->Canon->Pictures->Family. They are also future broken down by family member, then event. For example, you could probably find this kind of folder tree on there: Family -> Daniel -> Daniel & Stephanie -> Birthday -> 2007 -> Cakes -> singing -> action shots -> blowing out candles -> smoke -> lighting effects. It’s truly amazing.

I picked up on the extreme organization and methodology that my parents used in our everyday life. I’ve also connected that with my love for people. The result is a passion for organizing people. I’ve used this to move toward systems designed to help people connect  and be shepherded by other people who have things in common with them. The more people, the more complicated the system, but that is what I am passionate about. I know, probably sounds a little weird.

The only problem is I don’t get to spend the majority of my time working with those systems. Right now I work for a church plant, which means I do MANY other things during the week. This week I did everything from stuff envelopes to purchase books for the staff’s training. 

But focus is the key. I focus on the systems. I spend time thinking about them as I am driving to and from work. I ask all sorts of questions in my head while I work out or go for a run. And I am always looking for another way to get people to connect and grow and then find out how to make it easier for that to happen. 

When I am in the store purchasing coffee cream and cups for the church, I am able to take that time to step away from the distraction of my computer and task list and think about the people that I get to work with and wonder how I can better serve them through connecting them to others for genuine community. 

I get to do what I love to do. And I have acknowledged what I am not good at doing. It seems like that list grows bigger every day…

The Printable CEO

I don’t remember how, but I stumbled upon Dave Seah’s blog. He’s a designer and form guru. I checked out his “Printable CEO” series and I was hooked.

I learned a valuable lesson about keeping track of your time not only to help assess your effectiveness and productivity, but to help communicate your value to an organization. Seah’s Emergent Task Timer let’s me do that in a way that is visually appealing and requires little effort during the day, which is a huge benefit.

I have also found his forms for project management and task planning helpful. I would recommend you check it out.

3 Smart Things About Sleeping Late

I read this article the other day and I can’t decide if it is a good article that I should learn from or if it is stupid. You decide.

3 Smart Things About Sleeping Late .

New Years Resolutions

I’ve been slacking off. Ever since I got into Twitter, I have completely fallen off of the blogging waggon. I don’t think Twitter will ever kill off the personal blog. They’re way too different.

This year, I hope to become a more active blogger. One of my resolutions is to actually take pictures with my camera instead of bringing it everywhere and never taking pictures. The other is to be a more active blogger. Nothing sharpens writing skills quite like practice.

Found dog

Sunday afternoon we took Lucy for a walk and found a dog running around in our yard by the time we got back. This cute little pooch had a hankercheif on but didn’t had any tags. We grabbed another leash from inside and took this dog for a walk to find it’s owners.

Though the dog was a little on the cute side, it was definitely not leashed trained. It whipped around and nipped at any and everything it could only pausing to pee on every bush we passed.

We had plans to go out Sunday night so we printed up some fliers and posted them all around our neighborhood and the neighboring streets. The dog got put in a crate in our front room. After all, it was only 45 degrees outside.

Three days later and two sleepless nights due to barking, whining, whimpering and all other forms of annoying dog noises, we haven’t heard a thing from our fliers.

In a last ditch effort for our marriage and sanity, we called animal control. All other shelters would charge you a fee to drop off the dog and the vet couldn’t find a microchip in the little hellyon.

So to update those who follow me on twitter (www.twitter.com/dangossett), ding dong the beast is gone.