Looking Ahead to 2012

2012 Resolutions

After this morning's sermon "Jesus first" I took another look and tried to write reasons behind some of these resolutions and how I can draw closer to Jesus in all areas of life. I will come back to post my progress on these resolutions at least once a month. :)

1. Build a solid foundation in God's Word.

• memorize 1 verse a week--no longer paraphrasing God's Word but having a firm understanding in prayer and sharing with others
• re-read the Old Testament, specifically studying the minor prophets and an overall timeline of historical events during the writing of the OT: following the BRP here

January: Lamentations 3:24, John 12:27-28a, Romans 10:14-15, Galatians 5:16; reading through 1 + 2 Chronicles (studying more in-depth), Genesis (with my Bible as Lit class), Acts & Matthew (church-wide BRP). One thing I have been learning through the stories of David and Solomon is a model of our humble posture before God. For example, as the people give offerings for the temple in 1 Chr 29, David says simply, "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and all of your own have we given you." There is absolute humility in the offering, knowing the source from which it came. Later Solomon builds the great temple, but recognizes that even this great effort to build the temple was insignificant compared to God's holiness and faithfulness and that this was simply a place to offer to God, worship, and point people to see Him in their lives, rather than a house to contain Him. There is extravagance in the offering--everything overlaid with pure, fine gold, intricate carvings, cloth made of expensive dyes, yet all this extravagance only a response to God's extravagance. I wrote this prayer in my journal in response: Lord, Help me to have this kind of humility, this kind of focus on excellence and extravagance in my studies, my responsibilities, my relationships. Lord, grant that I may be extravagant in faith, in love. I will fail but rather than be discouraged, help me to run back to you and quickly dive in again. The more I fail, the more I learn. The more I fail, the more I depend on you. May I be daily reminded of your grace and faithfulness. Amen.

2. Continue to develop a more active prayer life, training myself to hunger to hear His voice in everything I do.

• January: regular times of Sabbath prayer/rest throughout the week, extended One Desire Fast/intercession (may blog about further)

3. Blog at least twice a month (mid-way and end). I journal frequently but there's something to be said about learning to reflect in a way that others can actually understand and possibly learn something from.

• January: heheh, will try more for next month :)

4. Learn the basics of playing guitar, continuing to develop a joy and deep satisfaction in both private and corporate worship.

• January: Learned G, C, D, E and can very, very slowly play "How Great is Our God." Faithfulness with practicing got less and less as the month progressed, though, and I still struggle a lot with rhythm.

5. Learn to play chords on keyboard/piano rather than just pounding out the melody.

6. Develop proficiency in Japanese and Spanish, specifically learning to share part of the gospel and/or my testimony in both languages. Also, brush up on French before this summer!

• January: Taking a Japanese calligraphy class with Jenny. It has been helpful to have more exposure to and opportunities to practice speaking/writing!

7. Begin learning Korean. Language has an amazing power to form connections between people.

8. Exercise regularly! It's hard to make the time when the semester gets going but I always feel so much better afterward, especially after prayer runs that stretch me to persevere both spiritually and physically. Specifically, I would like to train up to running 2-3 miles without stopping to walk.

• January: Started off the semester well but stopped during the fast. Hopefully can get back into running in February!

9. Continue working through Life's List as an avenue to continue broadening my experiences, interests, interactions with other communities and cultures (some specifics this year: (a) Traveling abroad with my mom! (b) sit in on an engineering class (c) U of M Hockey game (d) Go to something in Hill Auditorium (e) Go fairy door hunting)

• January: Went to a U of M Hockey game with IMAX, saw Jean perform in Hill Aud :)

10. Start and finish a book list as an opportunity to learn:

25 Books for 2012

January 1. Real Time Connections by Bob Roberts

2. Generous Justice by Tim Keller

3. Desiring God by John Piper

4. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

5. The Journals of Jim Elliot

6. Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill (with Erica)

7. Straight and Narrow by Thomas Schmidt (with Erica)

8. The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman

9. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

10. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam (a Christmas gift from a year ago!)

11. Honour Found by Robert Barriger

12. Finish The Complete Works of C.S. Lewis

13. Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi & Moroni

14. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010 (edited by Dave Eggars)

15. Love Marriage by V.V. Ganeshanathan (a visiting professor at U of M)

16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson

17. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

18. Riding the Bus with my Sister by Rachel Simon

19. Finish Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

20. Dracula by Bram Stoker

21. Finish The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

22. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Hadden

24. John Wesley's Works v. 1-sermons (and also bits of v. 8 with some of his best-known essays and v. 11 with enjoyable snippets such as "A Question Concerning Dew on Coach-glasses" and "Advice to the People called Methodists, with regard to Dress")

25. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald