Guest post from Daryll D:
Well the month is already nearly over! 2011 is already 1/12th done. I would say the first month of the year has been a pretty productive one for both Trish and me.
Our sermon series at church right now is called Forward: Making 2011 Count. I really like the series so far and think Trish and I have done a pretty good job of making some application of the series to our lives. This morning Paster Jeff talked about all of the distractions that can get in the way, and how true is that? (In Nehemiah of all places…)
One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read the whole Bible in a year. Never done it before in a formal way so thought this would be a good time to do it. So far, so good! Yet it has been an interesting example of things as well. It’s so easy to get distracted by the smallest of things, even when your goal is a simple one. Whether it be your sleepself telling your brain, “Just five more minutes…” or “I know your alarm went off…but you can hit dismiss and still get up…”, to leaving my Bible in the car, wanting to get into work early, promising myself I will read double tomorrow…the easy part is to come up with an excuse, the hard work is defeating those excuses. As the month has gone by, it has gotten easier and excited for what February will bring, especially now that our fast is over and I can drink coffee again! (Our whole church went on a fast at the beginning of the January…but I wasn’t quite ready to go all the way so modified mine to be a “no coffee/no soda/no alcohol” fast – still challenging considering my usual beverage habits!!) The key is knowing WHERE you want to go. Because everyone will end up somewhere – so you have to make sure you end up where you WANT to end up. The example in this case being to read the whole Bible in a year – but this is true in life as well.
I’m also very proud of my wife Trish. Recently we made our biggest financial investment together – getting a new car!
Money is always a tough issue for marriages – it was certainly probably our biggest struggle our first year- but I really feel proud of where we are and where we are going. I think this car is a big step in that; symbolically showing our readiness and as well as now Trish gets to enjoy power windows and door locks, not to mention driving in style! She goes off to Boston this week with her mom and sister. Very excited for her but will also miss her! I’ve even already bought some ingredients to make a meal beyond macaroni and cheese this week.
Thursday heading out with Greg for our own little Through Painted Deserts-style road trip. Should be a fun time, then Super Bowl Sunday for our third annual Chili cook-off!
