2016 is Upon Us!

Whenever a new year comes I think that all of us feel the necessity to start fresh.  This can be a good thing and a bad thing.  Good in that we make plans to be intentional and get things going that we have wanted to do for who knows how long.  Bad because we often fail in those attempts and then wait until next year to give it another go.  Maybe that will happen for me, maybe it wont. I do have some things that I will be taking on this year and have this blog that I haven't used for six months, so why not make a public announcement in order that I might push myself all the more?

Let's keep this brief.  Here is what I am aiming for, starting tomorrow:

• #VTReadingChallenge:  This was proposed by Tim Challies at challies.com and I can't help but want to try.  I am not someone who reads constantly, but I hope that through this challenge I can become more diverse in what I read.  I also wouldn't mind getting a little smarter and wiser in the process.
• Language learning:  Always a goal, but also the goal most often moved to the back of my mind.  I've blogged about it before, and I think I will stay with the tools I have used before.  Memrise, italki, Chinese Skill, Pleco, etc.
• Bible Reading: I'm torn between doing a pre-made plan or just coming up with my own custom plan.  I'm not sure whether slowly working through a book at a time with a few commentaries by my side would be better right now, or if trying to read a lot of the Bible in each sitting to really immerse myself in it as many times as I can get through it would be better.  I'm leaning towards slow and steady right now.  We'll see. 
• Fitness: After doing the Tough Mudder this year I realized the value in being in shape.  I felt better and I had more energy.  I have since become more sedentary and have already lost quite a bit of strength.  I will be going through some workout apps that I got for my iPhone in hopes to gain some of what I had back.  I would like to do something every day, maybe alternating muscle workouts and running/biking every other day.  I hope the weather starts getting a little nicer...
• Family: I really want to engage my family more.  Play more board games with my wife and kids, play video games with the boys, take the girls on dates, etc.  Most importantly I want to pray with my wife and kids and slowly work through a book of the Bible together.  I think that might be a good idea.  
• Church: I really want to connect with the people that God has entrusted me with in whatever way possible.  I want to pray for them more and hear their hearts more.  It's hard in our busy world to know exactly how to do that, but I want to make more of an effort even if it is just by sending a daily email of encouragement to a person in the church each day.  I don't know.  Still thinking through this.

There is more brewing in my mind, but this is what is fresh.  What is different about tomorrow than any other day?  Nothing.  But I want to be more intentional, so I will take the little extra push of it being a new year to get me over that hurdle of getting distracted again.  I will be blogging again, hopefully, and we'll see what happens.

God's grace in Jesus to whoever reads this.  Enjoy the beginning of a new year!