New Years Day

Now that it's New Years Day, it's time to bust out the pork, black-eyed peas, collard greens, and corn bread. I haven't gotten around to that yet; in fact, that will probably have to wait until this weekend when I smoke a pork shoulder with my new smoker grill (FTW!). But I have drunk deep of my fill of college football and in terms of the magnitude of each game, I've only just begun.

Of course no New Years would be complete without the standard New Year's resolutions. But for me, I'm not really into making resolutions at the beginning of a new year. It's not that I have nothing to change about myself (I'm sure there is plenty), it's just that I have always wanted to be an agent of change throughout the year, not at some static point in time where my chances of success are severely limited.

But last night as I pondered what a new year would bring, a few things did come to my heart that I really hope I do a better job of this year than I did in 2008:

1. I want to be a better husband to my beautiful wife Kellie this year. More romance, less selfishness. more sensitivity, less selfishness. More spontaneity, less selfishness. You get the point.

2. I want to be a better father to my four wonderful kids Chandler, Reynolds, Deacon, and Emmerson. More love and less loud with my discipline. More support for the things that they do well - I want to edify them as much as possible. Be the kind of daddy that they brag about to their friends - could there be a bigger compliment. A better role model of what a man of God is supposed to be.

3. I want to be more in love with Jesus each and every day. My desire is to live my life in such a way that He is honored in everything that I do. I want to speak like He spoke, act like He acted, live like He lived. If I succeed at this, then every bad habit, impure motive, or selfish action will be swallowed up by humility and purity. This is my supreme goal: to be more like Christ.