My 2009 Post

After reading about a hundred blogs about the new year, I figure I should play along and post my own 2009 post. First of all, I thank God for 2008, and that it is gone. It about killed me. I am hoping for a much easier 2009. I am taking fewer classes this year, but I will still have plenty to keep me busy.

In 2009, the first major event will be child #4. That’s what I will call her for now. Having a child requires a lot of time and work, so around the first of April that’s where all my time will be spent.

Next, there will be graduation. Yeah, graduation. I actually graduated last year, but since I am enrolled in three programs at once, this will be my second Master’s degree. This one will qualify me for the chaplaincy. Since I will have that out of the way, I will be heading back to Ft. Jackson in the summer to finish up CHBOLC. I also hope to do a couple of practicums this year. So, it looks like I will be away from home for at least 12 weeks of 2009.

Next fall I will be taking a very light load of classes while working to restore my limited Greek skills. I haven’t taken any for a year, and in order to finish that third degree that I am seeking, I need another full year of it, and three semesters of Hebrew. I can’t wait for that. So, I have a lot of self study to do before I get to that.

I guess that’s the big plan for the year. I also want to do the regular things like make sure I read through the Bible this year. I am going to follow the ESV chronological reading plan. I started this close to the end of last  year and liked it pretty well. I am going to try and actually finish it this year.

My other goal, or resolution, is to read a book a week. That would be 52 books in the year. That will include my required reading for seminary of course, but I want to get as many books read as possible. My bookcase is full of books that I haven’t started, or that I started and didn’t finish. I know that a book every week is a lot of reading, but if George Bush can do it, then surely I can.

A few I need to finish:

1. Debating Calvinism: Five Points, Two Views
2. In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement
3. King James Onlyism: a New Sect
4. Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth (Today’s Critical Concerns)
5. Dispensationalism

New ones on my shelf waiting to be read:

1. Death by Love: Letters from the Cross (Re:Lit)
2. Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom
3. The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
4. A Tale of Two Sons: The Inside Story of a Father, His Sons, and a Shocking Murder
5. Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure

So, that covers ten weeks worth of reading, and or listening (thanks to audible.com and christianaudio.com). Plus there is a ton of other stuff, especially old stuff that I have to keep me going for 52 weeks.

It should be a great year.

May God be glorified in 2009.