My Resolutions for 2019

Last year, I spent much more time than usual thinking about resolutions for the New Year, ultimately compiling a list of 13 goals (of varying difficulty) that I mostly took pretty seriously. It was a fun exercise, so here we go again...here are my resolutions for 2019!

1. Spend 30 minutes per day in personal Bible study

Sometimes people seem to assume pastors are walking Bible encyclopedias, that we've got the answer to any theological or biblical question at our fingertips. We don't. As it turns out, even really really good seminaries can't teach you all the secrets of heaven and earth in 3 years.

So it's my job to be a lifetime learner...I don't mind at all telling someone "I don't know" when they ask me a Bible question, but I'd like to be doing it less in 50 years than I am now. For that matter, I'd like to be doing it less in one year than I am now.

So resolution #1 is to spend 30 minutes every weekday studying some area of the Bible where my knowledge needs a refresher. The prophets, biblical geography, and Paul's missionary journeys will get a lot of attention.

2. Develop and stick to a prayer plan

I hope you won't be surprised to hear that I'm a regular prayer, but I admit the objects of my prayers are pretty scattershot...it just depends on who and what are on my mind at the moment. So for 2019, I want to be more intentional about the prayers with which I start my day. Here's the plan, which I reserve the right to change as the year goes on:

Sunday- Pray for the local and universal church.
Monday- Pray for the hurting, hopeless, and lost.
Tuesday- Pray for governmental leaders at the local, state, and national levels.
Wednesday- Pray for my friends.
Thursday- Pray for victims of poverty, oppression, war, and injustice.
Friday- Pray for people I don't like (to use Jesus's words, my "enemies".)
Saturday- Pray for my family.

3. Memorize one Bible verse per day

I am admittedly terrible at Scripture memory, particularly at being able to cite where a verse is found. Frankly, it's embarrassing. So here goes. One verse per day will give me 365 plus all the ones that a lifetime in church did manage it imprint upon me.

4. Run the Dallas Marathon

After I ran Waco's marathon in 2015, I was satisfied to cross "run a marathon" off my bucket list and stick to 5Ks and half-marathons from then on.

...well, it took 4 years, but I've got the itch again. So I'm setting a goal to run in the 2019 BMW Dallas Marathon, held on (of all days) Andrew's birthday. I hope and expect to beat my time from 2015, but I'll be satisfied just to finish.

5. Volunteer one hour per week (outside of church)

I'm a big believer in being involved in the community, but I need to do a better job of proving it, and doing so outside of the friendly environment of church activities. After all, those activities can't really be considered "volunteering" in my case, since my paychecks have the church's name on them. So whether at the library, parks and recreation department, nursing home, or elsewhere, I'm making it a priority this year to spend at least one hour per week volunteering, not as Pastor Daniel but as Citizen Daniel.

6. Listen to 3 songs every day

Since college, my commuting playlist has gone from 'whatever CDs are in the car' (boy, that's a dated phrase) to exclusively podcasts. I listen to podcasts when I'm running, driving around town, and sometimes even just when I'm doing chores around the house. In fact, I listen to podcasts so often that I felt like I need to give them up for Lent last year.

The problem is that means I sometimes go days without listening to any music. For me, that's a huge problem. So I'm committing to stopping at some point every day this year, plopping down in a chair with a pair of headphones, closing my eyes, and listening to at least three songs. It's not much, but it's something. My iTunes library of nearly 7000 songs deserves at least that much.

7. Get organized

Organization is something I want to be good at. I know it's important. But it's not something I'm naturally gifted at, as my wife/full-time, unpaid secretary can tell you.

So my goal in 2019 is to take some steps to improve in that department. Simple stuff. Buy a planner and then use it. Write down dates instead of assuming I'll remember them (I never do) or hoping Lindsey will (thankfully, she almost always does.) You know, the kind of stuff I should have nailed down at age 16 or so.

8. Be mindful of my screen time

I'll admit it: I'm as addicted to my smart phone as any millennial. It's the first thing I check in the morning and almost always the last thing I look at before bed.

So my admittedly ambiguous goal is to be more mindful of my screen time in 2019: to check Facebook and Twitter twice a day instead of every time there's a lull, to read a magazine or a book instead of scrolling through a news feed, to make room for silence and even boredom in a world that offers constant stimulation. No concrete plan of action yet on this one, but I'll let you know how it goes.

9. Watch all the Marvel Studios movies prior to seeing Avengers: Endgame

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love the Marvel movies. However, to the dismay of my brother Nathan, I've only seen most of them once. So before Avengers: Endgame comes out at the end of April, Lindsey and I are committing to rewatch every Marvel Studios offering since 2008's Iron Man. I can't wait.

10. Watch 50 movies in 2019

I love movies, but it's pretty typical for me to make it through the year having seen less than 10. So by December 31, 2019 I want to have a list of 50 movies I watched over the course of the year, whether in the theater, on Blu-Ray, or on Netflix.

Resolution #9 will help considerably with this one, since I will have to watch 23 Marvel movies (counting the yet-to-be-released Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home) just to pull that resolution off.

11. Throw away fewer leftovers

The thing about growing up in a family of five is that there weren't a lot of leftovers. What we didn't eat at dinner was usually just enough for Dad to take to work for lunch the next day, and so we almost always got something fresh for dinner. So when Lindsey and I got married, she was frustrated to learn that my tolerance for eating leftovers was pretty low.

I've improved over the years in that respect, but there's room to grow. So in the name of 1) not wasting food 2) saving money and 3) being less spoiled, I'm committing in 2019 to eating whatever leftovers are in the fridge before making something new or defaulting to eating out.

12. Write a book

After making this one of my resolutions last year and failing to write a word, I'm re-upping on the goal this year. I've got a book idea and a rough outline, so don't count me out this time around!

13. Learn Spanish

The Duolingo app has been re-downloaded and a Spanish verb book has been purchased. I won't be fluent by the end of the year, but if I can make it to "passable in basic conversation," I'll be thrilled.