Big Announcement

Do you have some things in life that might be a little bit crazy, but you really just want to be able to say that you did it?

Run a marathon, climb a mountain, etc. etc.

Well, I have one of those dreams coming up in less than two months.

I am fighting, mixed martial arts style, inside a cage.

May 24th, 2008 It will be man against man with no where to run.  I feel sorry for the dude who will be standing across from me on that day!  I have no desire to go pro, I am a pastor and wrestling coach, not a full time fighter.  This is just one of those things I need to do, to check off my list of things I want to achieve in life.

Tonight, I went in and trained with a few guys at a friends house.  He has a mat in his basement.  I was shocked when I got there and Jason Black was there.  Jason is Huge!  His card says he fights 155 but he weighs like 180-190 and is a freaking monster!  He has only lost 1 pro fight at 170 and that was because he broke his elbow in a freak accident.  He is a stud!

So I was out of my league tonight.  I weight 142 lbs, and the other guys were all over 180, that really sucks!  It was cool to roll around with Jason though, he is great fighter!

So, I need help with my training and I need some of you guys to help me out.  I need to lift weights, run a bunch, spar, and wrestle.  If you could help me do any of those things please let me know, I need some motivational help and a good kick in the butt every now and then.

March's Books

I have a goal this year to read 4 books per month.  I am doing pretty well so far but it is getting a lot more difficult with my schedule spinning out of control.

I wish I had someone who could help me with my scheduling.

Anyway, here are the books I read this month.

KyC

My setup crew deceived me last night.

They setup more chairs than usual.

When I preached I saw more empty seats than normal.

I assumed that we had a down night because of spring break.

I heard this morning that we broke another record.  

We have broken attendance records 3 out of the last 4 weeks!

We plan on doubling this year.  That is just one of our goals for 2008.

Holy Crap, God is Good!!!!!

3 more goals for 2008

I added three more personal goals to my list for 2008.

1.  Find and develop a quality relationship with a mentor.

2.  Develop a relationship with a kung fu, in your face, accountability partner.

3.  Get my tatt on my chest finished.  

If anyone would like to donate, I probably need about $200 to get it finished! Remember the scripture, "Real devotion is helping out orphans, widows, and pastors to get their tattoo's finished."  Every scripture is inspired by God... well maybe not the one's that I make up.

Goal setting 2008

Okay so hopefully you have started writing out your goals for 2008.

Once you have those goals down, your next step is to "make it today."

You want to be debt-free in 2008?  That's great, but what is it going to take for you to do today to make that happen?  Let's do the math.

You have a $1600.00 debt.  (School loan, credit card, etc.)

Lets break it down to a daily payment. 1600/365=$4.38

You need to save $4.38 per day in order to pay that debt off this year.

Wow, sounds like your daily starbucks, is keeping you in debt to the tune of 1600 bucks per year.

You want to write a book?  What are you doing today?

You want to be a pastor?  What are you doing today to work towards that goal?

Today matters!  What we do today, gives us our tomorrow, and our future.

What you are doing right now will affect where you end up in 2008!

Take your goals and "make em' today," today!

Here are a few of our Family goals for 2008 from each category.  I hope this helps you in making your goals. It kind of puts us out there to really stick to our goals

Financial

 Debt Free except mortgage

give more to the ministry this year than in 2007

Scheduling

 Continue with Date Nights weekly at least 3 out 4 nights per month

 Continue with Sabbath principle weekly

 One family Vacation

 One individual week long vacation or just as a couple

 Missions Trip to Costa Rica

 One couple getaway (not including marriage retreat)

Parenting

 Read to Javen at least 15 min each day on at least 5 days a week.

 Limit television viewing to 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.  Educational programming is the exception.

Relational

 Not argue in front of Javen.

 Minimum of 30 min family dinners 5 days a week or Kitchen help time

 Continue in Small Groups

Spiritual

 Keep personal time with God a daily occurrence

 Amanda-Take notes in all services

 Justin-Blog or Journal everyday

 Read-Amanda 1 book per month-Justin-3 books per month-Keep track

 Speak Positive Scriptural Confessions everyday over family, finances, each other, ministry and Javen!

 Amanda-Find and develop a relationship with a mentor

Personal

 Workout at least 3 day’s per week

 Drink a Nalgene of water a day

 Justin-Week long camping trip with a few guys, several weekend trips

 Amanda-Less than 2 hours a day on TV five days a week

 Amanda-Expand vocal range by 1 full octave through singing success

 Amanda-Play keyboard 15 min everyday

Goals for 2008, Tomorrow starts today

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "the world makes way for the man who knows where he is going."  That is one of the greatest benefits for setting goals.  It set's the course for your life, it gives you a clear direction to focus your time, talents and energy towards.

Here are five benefits of setting Goals:

1.  It makes you decide what is important for you to achieve in your life

2.  It causes you to separate what is irrelevant from what is important

3.  Goals motivate you toward achievement

4.  Setting and Accomplishing your goals builds your self-confidence and confidence in God

5.  It is said that, "The Good is the enemy of the great."  Setting Goals help you differentiate from Good things and Great things.  If a good thing is going to hinder me from achieving a great thing I need to focus my energy towards the great thing.

Zig Ziglar says, "What you get by achieving your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by achieving your goals."

A great pre-2008 meeting

Aristotle once said, "Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." 

My wife Amanda and I just had our 2008 goal setting meeting.  It was the first time we actually made it official.  We set the appointment, met at starbucks, and worked our way through our family goals for 2008.

Zig Ziglar said, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time!"  Amanda and I have had some great years together but we want 2008 to be the most productive and blessed year we have ever had.  With our new baby boy, Amanda staying at home, and me working full-time at the church we have had a lot of changes in 2007.  So we felt it was necessary to "set the course" for our lives and family in 2008 in order to determine our direction and ultimately where we will end up when the end of 08 comes around.

We set Personal Goals, Parenting Goals, Spiritual Goals, Relational Goals, Scheduling Goals, and Financial Goals.  We left the ministry goals out of this meeting.

Here are five things to help you set some good goals.

1.  Be specific (Use dates, times, amounts, etc)

2.  Be realistic but leave room for faith

3.  Write them down

4.  Do not set goals to low

5.  Make sure your goals are measurable.  (Becoming a better leader is a poorly stated goal.  Reading 2 leadership books a month is a good goal because it is measurable.)

I'll post some more tips on making and achieving goals tomorrow.