I Resolve!

I'm batting .250 on 2011's New Year's Resolutions. I really only accomplished one out of four, although all of them were certainly within my grasp. However, I am proud of the one resolution I fulfilled, which was to read four classic books I had never read before. I think I devoured seven. My new Nook allows me to download a lot of classics for free.

However, I am resolving to start 2012 anew, with a brand new vigor, fresh vision and determination to change for the better. I've been more excited about January 1st than December 25th, to be honest. So, here we go again, with a list of resolutions for the new year.

1. More Bible, Less Facebook.

The Bible can change my life for the better. Social Networking leaves me frustrated and aggravated with people and their constant drama, bickering, lack of morality and filthy language. How much better to allow God to speak into my life next year? I've already taken the first step by creating a private "get-away" prayer room at the church where I can be alone a couple hours a day for study and communion with God.

2. Get Healthy

I've learned that I need to concentrate on my overall health, not just my weight. I enter the new year with arthritis in my hip, a certain sense of confusion in my heart, and a pot belly. All three have got to go in 2012. Prayer and fasting will be part of my regular routine.

3. Financial Stability

My days of labor have passed the halfway point. Should God delay His coming and I live long enough, I don't want to be working 50 hours a week at the age of 70. We WILL dig out of our financial troubles this year and put away for retirement.

4. Ordination

I finished the requirements for Ordination with the Assemblies of God this summer, but in order for me to feel that I can go ahead and apply for the 3rd and highest level of Ministerial Licensing, I have to get resolutions #1, #2, and #3 in order first. It's one thing to earn it through study, it's quite another to deserve it through living.

5. Cook Like Robert Irvine

Of course I'm being a bit silly with this one, but I do want to be a better cook. I would like to prepare more homemade, low-fat healthy dishes other than my amazing pancakes. And they are amazing, I might add. I watch Robert on Food Network, and he makes cooking fun, tasty, and above all... simple. More food from scratch, less food out of a can. Sounds like a good idea to me.

And there you have it. In short, I want to end the year as a new person who doesn't recognize the one who began it.

Here we go.

Why I'm Not Thinking About Japan

The images on the television screen this morning look like something Steven Spielberg put together after drinking one too many cups of coffee. Massive rivers of water wiping out everything in their sight, following an 8.9 earthquake in Japan. Already hundreds are confirmed dead, and the numbers are sure to rise. It's happening half a world away, yet the world seems to get smaller as information travels faster. As they talking heads on the morning news programs interview people affected by the tragedy, they say in their most compassionate voices, "We're all thinking about you."

Will somebody explain to me what that means? "I'll be thinking about you?" I'm thinking about lunch today, too. I'm thinking about how good that ham and cheese sandwich will taste. I'm thinking about the work I have ahead of me this afternoon. I'm thinking about the dusting I need to do around the house. Yet in Japan, hundreds of people are dying, hundreds are missing, and you're thinking about them? Spare me.

Thoughts aren't going to save anybody. Thoughts aren't going to bring hope or healing. Thoughts, according to Webster's dictionary are "opinions" or "judgments." Do hurting people really need our opinions? What they need is action. They need our prayers. They need friends thousands of miles away who will take a moment to get on their knees and intercede. In the coming days and weeks ahead, they will need the support of prayer warriors who will do more than just "think" or "send good thoughts."

Japan will be all the talk around the office water cooler, in the coffee shops, barber shops, and bars across the United States today. Opinions will be formed and judgments will be made. Hours will be spent considering the news, posting the latest updates on Facebook, surfing YouTube at work for the latest videos, and shaking our heads while we're fixated on the horrific images.

Yet how much time will we devote to action? How much time are we willing to put into doing something useful for very real people who are suffering through a very real hurt?

Let's stop thinking and start praying.